


Wife Swap

by texasbelle91



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M, Not really though, Wife Swapping, bethyl
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-05-21 16:36:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 37,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6058444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/texasbelle91/pseuds/texasbelle91
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daryl Dixon and Rick Grimes never set out to "swap" wives but an experiment and marriage study has them doing just that. The rules are easy, act as if you are actually a married couple but do not engage in physical activities. How will things fair for Rick and Daryl? How will Lori and Beth handle the swap? What happens when there are children and hearts involved? - Let's find out!</p><p>This is Bethyl and there will not be any actual "wife swapping" or smut in this story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"I think this could be good for all of us," Lori said with a smile.

Beth just blushed and looked down. "It'll certainly be interesting," she said.

Rick and Daryl sat there staring at their plates of food and listening to their wives talk.

"Exactly how the hell are we supposed to explain this to everyone?" Rick questioned after the women had finished talking.

"There's really nothing to explain," Lori answered. "In fact, we don't have to explain anything at all. It's not like we are actually swapping."

"No offense, Rick," Beth began, "but if I actually had to sleep with you for this, I wouldn't do it. None of us would. It's just an experiment to see how well we handle separation from our spouse's and a way for us to learn and make our marriages stronger."

"Well, look who got brave all of a sudden," Rick smirked.

"You've been quiet. What do you think of this, Daryl?" Lori asked as she took a sip of wine.

"It's a shitty idea. I don't wanna be swappin' wives with no one."

"Is that right?" Beth laughed. "You'd be into this if you were swappin' for Miranda Lambert."

"That's different 'cause that ain't ever gon' happen."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Six months earlier..._

Lori squeezed Rick's hand as they sat down on the couch.

"It's alright," she whispered. "We need this."

He scoffed. "Sorry if I find little comfort in that."

"May I ask what it is you find little comfort in?" A voice said from the doorway.

Lori and Rick looked up and he shook his head.

"I find little comfort in my wife draggin' me to a marriage counselor."

The counselor smiled. "First of all, Mr. Grimes, I'm Dr. Karen Linson and second, I'm not exactly a marriage counselor or at least I don't consider myself a traditional marriage counselor. My methods are all about finding peace, stability, comfort, love and more importantly yourself in a marriage. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you need to talk to me or each other about your problems. Sure, talking helps and you do need to talk but that's not all a marriage is made of. You simply cannot build a foundation on talking alone nor is that all it takes to fix it."

"So what are we gonna be doin'?" Rick asked.

"Well, when Lori came to me asking for help, I explained some of the things to her. Lori, would you care to tell your husband why you came to see me to begin with?"

Rick clenched his jaw, trying his best not to say anything as Lori looked at him to try to explain.

"I…um…well, I came to you because we've been having some problems. We don't talk about them but that doesn't make them go away and since Judith was born, things seem to only be getting worse."

"Don't try to blame this on Judith," Rick said as he jumped up from the couch.

"Rick, have a seat and listen to your wife," Dr. Linson said.

"Listen to her? You just said talking wouldn't fix things," Rick snapped.

"Rick, please sit down. I'm not trying to blame Judith. It's just that since she was born, we don't talk about us, we don't try to make time for us. I thought that having Judith would help us, make us more of a family. Don't get me wrong, I love her so much and I'm thankful we had her but we shouldn't have tried to fix our family that way."

Rick took a deep breath and looked between Lori and Dr. Linson then shook his head.

"Maybe this will help," Dr. Linson said, standing up and handing Rick a pamphlet. "These are some of the exercises I use to help couples. The two of you should look over them, discuss them together and then you can decide whether or not you would like to continue with this. It's completely up to both of you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Later that same day…._

"It's just so frustrating," Beth sighed and put her head in her hands. "Daryl and I have been trying for a while to have a baby and it just seems to be pullin' us further apart."

"Oh sweetie," Lori said as she sat down next to Beth. "When the time is right, you and Daryl will make wonderful parents. It'll happen but maybe you shouldn't try so hard. You've only been married for a year and half."

"It doesn't matter how long we've been married, Lori. We've been trying to have a baby for years. Hell, we tried to get pregnant our senior year but we've never even had a false alarm."

"Look, Bethie, every couple goes through this. Do you think it was easy for Rick and I. And for you to just be starting out in your marriage makes it even more difficult. Give yourself time to just be with Daryl."

"And what if that doesn't work? What if he leaves me? What if he finds someone else?"

"That won't happen. He loves you."

"Some days I don't think he does."

Lori poured them some more wine and smiled.

"I may know a way to fix things," she told Beth after they had each taken a sip.

"What do you mean?"

She reached into her purse and pulled out the pamphlet Dr. Linson had given them.

Beth looked it over. "Marriage counseling? Are you crazy, Lori? Do you even know Daryl?"

"Yes marriage counseling and yes I do know Daryl. That's precisely why I'm suggesting this. Maybe if you can get Daryl to go, Rick will go too."

Beth looked over the pamphlet again and smiled to herself. "I'll bring it up but I know Daryl and I know he'd rather be shot than do things like this."

"Well, if this doesn't work then you can try shooting him."

"You really are crazy," Beth laughed.

"Can't say for sure. The jury's still out on that one."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hell no! I ain't goin' ta talk ta one of them head doctors. You can go all ya want but I ain't."

"Daryl, if you would just stop and listen to me for just a minute you'd see that I'm not tryin' to force anythin' on you!" Beth said as calmly as she could. "I want you to choose to come with me on your own."

"Why tha hell do you want me ta go? It ain't gon' change nothin'. You're always gon' be bitchin' 'bout tha same shit."

"I want you to go because that 'same shit' I keep bitchin' about is our lives, our marriage! Why won't you go? Why can't you just sit down and have an actual conversation with me about this?"

Daryl slung his crossbow over his shoulder and started towards her. "We cain't change anythin', Beth. You know I ain't good with this shit so why do ya even wanna talk 'bout it? An' why bring someone else into it?"

"I thought maybe she could help us," Beth mumbled.

"She cain't help us. She cain't help you get pregnant, she sure as hell cain't help me get you pregnant. If that's all the fuck you wanted you shouldn't have married me."

"If you're just goin' to act like this, why did you even ask me to marry you?!" She finally shouted.

Daryl looked down, "I didn't think you'd say yes."

Beth choked back her tears until she heard his truck crank up and pull out of the driveway.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Shit," Daryl mumbled to himself as he looked down at his phone to see nine missed calls from Beth.

"Trouble with the wife?" Rick asked, handing a beer to Daryl as he took a seat.

Daryl shook his head in response.

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah an' she wants me ta go see some marriage doctor with 'er."

"It wouldn't be Dr. Linson, would it?"

"Yeah. How'd ya know?" He looked up curiously.

"Lori's been tryin' to get me to go see her. Said it'd be good for us. I finally went with her but this doctor seemed like she had a few screws loose of her own."

"What'd y'all talk about?"

"Nothin' really. The doc kept sayin' it would be good for our marriage, help us grow and shit like that."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Beth tapped her nails on the counter and stared at the pamphlet Lori had given her.

Without a second thought, she grabbed her car keys and drove into town.

Once she was in the parking lot of Dr. Linson's office, it took her a moment to catch her breath and get up the nerve to go inside.

She wasn't sure what she was doing here. She wasn't even sure if Dr. Linson would see her since she didn't have an appointment but it was worth a shot.

"So, tell me what seems to be the problem," Dr. Linson said after she and Beth had introduced themselves.

"I'm really not sure what the problem is," she answered truthfully. "I don't know if it's me or him or both of us but there's a big problem and we can't seem to find common ground."

"I can tell you that from my experience, there's never one person to blame for the problems in a marriage and marriage isn't the cause of most of the problems. It's often the individual person you are outside of the marriage that brings everything to the surface. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your husband?"

"Like what?"

"You can just start off with little things. How you met, how long you've been together or married, what do you do for a living and what does he do, what kind of things do you enjoy doing together and separately in your free time."

"Oh…um….we've been together since high school and we've been married for a year and a half. I'm a teacher at the elementary school and he's a mechanic. I sing at events in my free time and he usually goes hunting in his but there's really not much we do together anymore."

"Not much you do together anymore? What do you still do together?"

"We watch tv or we'll go out with friends but that's about it and even then it's not something we do together."

"I see. This may be too personal but how is your sex life?"

Beth huffed. "Nonexistent."

"You've only been married approximately eighteen months and you're not having sex at all. Do you know why?"

"We quit having sex about the time I quit taking birth control…."

"Okay," Dr. Linson interrupted her and held up her hand, "I'm sorry to interrupt you but that's never a good way to start off. Did you just quit taking it or did you talk to him first?"

"Both….kind of."

"No, Mrs. Dixon. The answer can't be both."

"Well, we'd talked about having kids and had planned on it but once I stopped taking the birth control, it was like he wasn't interested in me after that."

"A baby is a big change, Mrs. Dixon. Have you thought or asked him how he feels about this?"

"I've tried but he doesn't really want to talk about it. I even started taking the birth control again last month but he still doesn't want me like he used to. It's been longer than that since the last time I brought it up but today, he stormed out of the house because I suggested we come here. He thinks this is all about me wanting a baby but it's not. I want him and if a baby isn't part of our future, that's fine."

"Have you tried telling him that? In the exact words you just used?"

"No," Beth shook her head. "I guess I haven't said it exactly like that but I've tried to."

"Then I think you need to. He's probably scared and doesn't know how he truly feels about this and he may just want to know that it's him you want. Not the image you've created in your mind."

"How do I make him listen to me and actually hear what I have to say?"

"All you can do is talk to him and hope he is listening. I may not believe that talking and listening are the most important things in a marriage but they certainly help. You need to be able to communicate with your spouse. Now, you can set up an appointment for both of you to come in and see if that can help if you'd like. As I'm sure you know from the pamphlet, I don't charge for the first four visits. That's the first initial couple consultation, the two individual consultations, and then another couple consultation. After that, it's your choice whether or not you would like to continue with the program. Do you think that's something both of you would be interested in doing?"

"He wouldn't but I'd like to."

"It's wonderful that you are so willing to do this for your marriage but this program only works if you are both committed to it. Do you think you can get him to come in?"

"I can try," Beth answered nervously. She wasn't sure what she would do to get Daryl to come in with her but if it meant they could work out whatever was wrong, she would try it. At this point, she would try anything.

Dr. Linson smiled and reached for her appointment book. She scanned the pages as she flipped through them.

"It looks like I'm booked for the next week so how does two weeks from today sound? That should give you plenty of time to talk things through with your husband and if you decide not to come, please call."

"That sounds good. I'll try to get him in here."

"Okay," Dr. Linson stood up and held her hand out to Beth. "I look forward to meeting your husband."

Beth shook her hand and took a deep breath.

This wouldn't be easy but nothing with Daryl ever was. If it were, he wouldn't be the man she loved and wanted.

She didn't have a plan but she knew she could find a way if she tried hard enough.


	2. Chapter 2

"Daryl, please just hear me out," Beth pleaded over dinner. "I wouldn't ask you to do this if I didn't think it could help us. We need this."

"That's bullshit," Daryl shouted. "We don't need someone tellin' us what ta do."

"She won't be tellin' us what to do. She's just goin' to try to help us. Don't you want to see if whatever is wrong with us can be fixed?"

Daryl sat down his cup and pushed his chair back from the table.

"That's what this shit is 'bout? You think you can fix me? Well I got news for ya, Darlin', I'm too damn fucked up ta be fixed!"

Beth pushed her chair away from the table and stood up. "It's not about fixin' you, Daryl. It's about fixin' us! I don't know what the hell's goin' on with you anymore. Every time I try to talk to you or if I bring up the wrong thing, you run away. I can't keep doin' this so either you come with me to this appointment or you find somewhere else to stay."

He huffed. "You ain't kickin' me out of my own house!"

"I hate to break it to you, _Darlin'_ , but this is our house," she shouted back. "But you know what, if you won't leave, I will!"

She stormed out of the room before he could stop her even though he had no intentions of doing that anyway. If he did, they would just end up right back here in a few weeks. That's really all their marriage consisted of lately, one of them leaving or the other threatening to leave. It never did them any good so he just couldn't see the point in going after her.

He grabbed the six-pack out of the fridge and headed out to the garage. He knew she wasn't leaving, neither of them were, but she was still pissed off and so was he. They needed their space.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Beth slammed the bedroom door shut when she heard Daryl going outside. They always did this, fight and run off to their own corners. But not tonight. She was tired of running, tired of him running.

She swallowed her pride and hurried out to the garage.

"Daryl?" she called out as she swung the garage door open. As soon as she stepped inside, she froze. "Oh my God, Daryl! What the hell are you doin'?"

He shrugged. "What's it look like I'm doin'?"

She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head, trying not to let herself cry. "It looks like you've been around Merle lately. You do remember what happened last time, don't you?"

"It ain't…."

"No," she held up her hands. "No excuses, no tellin' me it ain't what it looks like, or it ain't as bad as I think. I don't care if you drink, Daryl, but when you start mixin' alcohol with that, you know how you get. Oh God, how could you?"

He leaned back in his chair and stared at her but didn't respond.

She took a hesitant step forward. "Daryl, you don't need to do this. If you need to relax or whatever, there's other things you can do. You and I both know that Merle's stuff is always laced with somethin', so why are you even doin' it?"

"Jesus fuckin' Christ," he mumbled. "It's one God damn joint an' it ain't laced with shit."

"Yeah," she nodded. "Keep tellin' yourself that and you'll end up in jail again and I won't be the one to get you out this time and neither will Rick. And Merle, he won't be there, not like you think he will."

"Ya know what, Beth? Maybe you was right earlier, one of us should leave."

When he stood up, she took a couple of steps back and kept her eyes focused on his.

She couldn't help the small laugh that escaped as she watched him.

"All of this because I asked you to go to marriage counseling," she said incredulously. "I was wrong, wasn't I? We can't save our marriage."

Before he could answer, she had rushed inside and quickly threw some things into her bag before she could change her mind about leaving.

He wasn't this guy, never really was but when things got tough Merle always seemed to be around and he always had his own way of helping his brother. No matter what it cost him.

She shouldn't be surprised though. Even without Merle in the picture, it was always like this. She never wanted to leave and she never really wanted him to leave but that's what it came down to. Her main concern was that he would react as he always did, like he didn't care what happened to them or himself.

She knew he wasn't all to blame for their problems, they had both done and said things they couldn't take back, but for the life of her she just couldn't see why it had to be this way. Why were things so damn difficult for them? Why couldn't they talk out their problems like a normal couple?

After things were said and done, she knew they would eventually sit down and say they were sorry, they forgive each other, but this would happen again and it would continue to happen unless they found a way to fix it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He didn't immediately follow her inside, he gave her enough time to get to the bedroom before he went in. He wanted so badly to go into their room, tell her he was sorry and that he'd work on being a better husband to her but of course, he didn't. He didn't know how to say those things to her. Sure, the words were there in his head, he thought them every time he screwed up, but he just couldn't get them to come out.

He waited there in the kitchen until he heard her slam the front door before he got up from the table and went to the living room window. He watched as she got in the car and when she cranked it, his heart started to beat faster. As far as he could tell, she didn't look back as she drove away. That was a good thing he supposed. At least he wouldn't feel guilty about not going after her knowing she didn't expect him to.

After she had left, he did the only thing he could, he packed a bag. He wasn't so hard or screwed up that he would just stay here after she left. How could he? This was the home they shared, they'd built. It was the place they were supposed to build their lives, raise the babies she wanted and grow old together. He didn't want to be there alone no matter how many times before he had been in this situation.

He threw his bag into the passenger seat of his truck and headed to Merle's house.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Beth had been driving around for over an hour when she pulled into a gas station parking lot and sat there, trying to calm herself down.

She had decided the second she pulled out of their driveway that she wasn't going home to the farm and she sure as hell wasn't going to Maggie's. So instead of trying to find a place to go for the night, she was sitting there praying.

As she did, she started thinking about what Dr. Linson had said and she was right. There was only one way things were going to get fixed and that was if they were both committed to working things out, not running away.

She sat there for a while longer before turning her car around and heading home.

All the lights were off when she pulled up but it wasn't until she got of her and started towards the porch that she noticed his truck was gone.

She sighed. There was no need for her to go inside, he wouldn't have left a note, though she knew where he was. She had no intentions of going there anyway. Why would she? If she did, she would just be putting herself though a lot of pain.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Merle handed Daryl beer and sat down across from him.

"Damn it, boy, I told ya not ta marry 'er," he said. "Hell, we both know she wasn't as perfect as ever'one thought she was."

"Shut tha fuck up, Merle," Daryl muttered.

"Naw. I ain't shuttin' up fer nothin'. Ya came here cryin' 'bout yer wife so don't think I'ma sit here an' not say nothin'. You knew what what you was getting' into when ya married 'er."

Daryl took a sip of his beer and leaned his head on the back of the couch.

"She may have been sweet an' all but that's how she fooled ya. Got ya seein' stars an' shit, baby brother. Me an' you, we ain't tha type of guys who can be with a woman like her. I told ya she only saw ya as a project. She wanted someone she could fix up an' change. You was jus' stupid enough ta fall for 'er."

Daryl closed his eyes. He never liked hearing Merle talk this way about Beth, never wanted anyone to talk bad about her, but he couldn't tell him to shut up or that he was wrong. He had been thinking about these things long before Merle said them.

"I'm tellin' ya, Darylina, that girl you ran 'round with still ask 'bout ya. That's tha type a girl ya should be with. I got 'er number, ya should give 'er a call. She ain't gon' care that you're married."

"I ain't payin' one of yer whore's, Merle," Daryl grumbled.

"Who said anythin' 'bout payin'? She'll do anythin' fer free an' she'll do anyone. Now that's tha kinda sister in law I want," Merle chuckled.

A while later, Merle had gone into his bedroom and Daryl had just finished his beer when there was a knock a on the door.

He jumped up and without looking to see who it was, he opened the door. He'd be lying if he said he was expecting it to be Beth but he damn sure hoped it would be.

Standing there in front of him was a tall brunette. She wasn't wearing much but what little she did have on didn't leave much to the imagination. Daryl would've recognized her even if he were blind. She was wearing the strongest perfume he had ever smelt, it was nothing like Beth's sweet perfume. He'd be damned if that didn't make him wish she was there more.

"Are you just gonna stand there or are you gonna let me?" she finally asked.

"You shouldn't be 'ere," he mumbled.

"Oh sweetheart, I'm not here for you. I'm here for Merle."

Daryl stepped out of her way and watched as she walked inside. He shut the door but stood close to it in case he needed to make a quick getaway.

The woman stood there smiling, staring at him, until they heard Merle coming down the hallway.

"There ya are, sweetcheeks. Was hopin' ya'd get 'ere quick," Merle said as he grabbed the back of her neck, pulling her to him, and kissed her sloppily.

Merle chuckled and grinned Daryl's way when he saw how uncomfortable his brother was.

"Go on an' have a seat, Darylina. Heidi's gon' show us a good time."

"Naw," Daryl shook his head. "I'ma go, head on home."

Heidi leaned up and whispered something to Merle, making him chuckle again.

He raised his hands and told her, "Alright. I'ma be in tha bedroom."

As soon as Merle's bedroom door shut, Heidi was pulling Daryl over to the couch.

She had managed to plant a few kisses along his neck, jaw and cheek before he was finally able to push her away.

"I ain't doin' this, " he mumbled and started back to the door.

He stumbled out to his truck and got inside.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Beth was already in bed when Daryl returned home.

He tried to be quiet so he wouldn't wake her, he didn't know that she hadn't been asleep, that she had been waiting for him to get home.

She didn't have to be close to him to smell the smoke that was clearly not from cigarettes and the smell of alcohol lingering on him.

He staggered towards the bed, nearly falling over before he was able to sit down to remove his shoes.

"Can we talk about what happened?" She asked as she moved to sit up in the bed and turned on the lamp on her nightstand.

"Ain't nothin' ta talk 'bout," he mumbled.

She scooted closer to him and reached out to touch his arm. "There's plenty to talk about, Daryl."

He looked up at her questioningly.

"Maybe we could talk about the lipstick on your face," she said.

He slapped her hand away from his arm and tried to stand up, instead falling back onto the bed.

"Daryl, I'm not mad. If you did something with whoever that was, it doesn't change the fact that I love you and I want to work our problems out. I don't care if you go out and fuck a different woman every night, or if you go out with your brother and get high, as long as you…."

"As long as I what, Beth? Come home to ya?"

"No. As long as you find a way to work out whatever is botherin' you. Believe me, I don't want to know that my husband is cheating on me but if that's something you need to do, then do it."

This time, when he tried to stand, he was able to without swaying on his feet.

He just stood there, staring at her in disbelief while she tried to hide the tears and pain in her eyes.

"I'ma sleep on tha couch," he muttered.

Beth nodded, slid back down in the bed, and closed her eyes as she silently berated herself for sounding so stupid.

Daryl knew she wouldn't put up with that kind of behavior but yet, here she was, giving him the greenlight to do whatever he wanted to do.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nearly a week had passed since Daryl came home that night with neither of them saying a word to the other.

Daryl had taken to sleeping on the couch and leaving before Beth got up in the mornings and coming home well after she would be asleep, during that time Beth had tried her best to give him as much space as he seemed to need.

Beth spent as much of her time volunteering for after school activities as she could and to the best of her knowledge, Daryl was working late.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Maybe you should just go see a lawyer," Lori suggested as she and Beth walked through the park.

"No. I love Daryl and I don't want a divorce."

"Sweetie, a divorce doesn't mean that you've stopped loving someone. It just means that you're trying to find your own sense of happiness and that just happens to be without the one you love."

"That has to be one of the most confusing things I have ever heard."

Lori and Beth both let out a little laugh.

"Confusing but true," Lori finally said. "So, what about Dr. Linson? Did you cancel your appointment?"

"Of course I did. I'm not going to see a marriage counselor without my husband."

"Either way, Beth, you need to figure out what you're going to do. You're either going to stick by his side and fight for what little bit y'all have left or you're going to take matters into your own hands and do something that will make you happy."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, Mr. Dixon, where would you like to begin?"

"I don't know," he mumbled and shrugged. "I ain't never done this before."

"Regardless of whether or not you've done this before, you should at least be able to tell me where you would like to start. We can start at what happened yesterday, two years ago, fifteen years ago. You get to choose what beginning you tell."

Daryl quickly looked up at Dr. Linson, then looked back down.

"Maybe it would be easier if I started off with some questions. Would that be alright with you?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: There's a couple of minor jumps in this chapter and also, please be aware that this is and will always be a Bethyl story. Bethyl, not Brick.
> 
> Oh, and there's not going to be any smut or "wife swapping" in this story, at least not in the way most would think.
> 
> Enjoy and Review!

**Wife Swap**

**Chapter 3**

 

"Rick, can you help me bring in the groceries?" Lori called out as she walked into the house.

Rick almost hollered out that was busy working on a case but he knew that wouldn't help matters none. He sat down the file he had been looking over and went out to help Lori bring in the bags. He carried them straight to the kitchen and sat them on the table.

As he turned away from her, he could feel her eyes on him.

"So that's it? You're not even going to attempt to help me put the food up?"

"Lori, I don't have time for this," he said, turning back to look at her. "I have some paperwork that needs to be done before tomorrow."

She rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "What happened to not bringing your work home? What if Carl were to see it?"

"Can we not do this now?" Rick pleaded.

"If not now, when? When will you have time to talk?" She reached over and dug through one of the bags on the table. "You see this?" She asked, holding up a package of steaks. "This was for you. I wanted to fix a nice dinner for us tonight because it's our anniversary!" She threw the package of steaks towards him, letting them crash on the floor and bust open. He took a small step back when she reached into another bag and pulled out a cake. "And this," she threw it at him. "Was supposed to be for us, too. But I guess none of this shit means a damn thing to you, does it? You'd rather work than be with your wife!"

He stood there, staring at her, not knowing what to say. He was used to her blowing up at him like this, unfortunately, it had become a regular occurrence in their day to day lives. But when she picked up a bottle of wine, he held up his hands.

"Lori, I'm sorry. We have two kids, two car notes, a mortgage, and other bills to pay. I have to work."

"Oh, so you're saying you have to work because I'm not? I work too, Rick, but my job is twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and three hundred and sixty five God damn days a year. I don't get days off, or vacation time. I don't get to stay home and sit on my ass like you do when you have time off."

"That's not what I meant, Lori. I just…."

"No, Rick. You are not giving me any more excuses. We're both going through things that we should go through as a husband and a wife, not as separate people. This is our marriage, we're married and neither of us can make excuses anymore."

"I wasn't makin' an excuse, Lori. I want to talk to you but every time I try, you always end up talkin'. We have to put you first in every conversation we have."

Lori rolled her eyes again and shook her head. "You never volunteer to talk. You always sit there and pretend to listen."

"How the hell can I talk when you won't give me the chance to?" Rick asked, taking a step towards her. "I've tried to talk to you."

* * *

"Damn, that's rough," Daryl commented and took a sip of his beer.

"If you think that's rough, you should've heard what she said last night," Rick said. "She had the nerve to say she never should have come back to me. She said that shit in front of Carl."

Daryl shook his head. "Lori bitches at you fer shit that she caused an' did an' Beth bitches at me for shit she cooked up in 'er head. Man, I don't understand women."

Rick nodded in agreement, took a bite of his pizza and asked, "How'd things go with Dr. Linson?"

"That woman is fuckin' crazy. How tha hell did Lori find 'er in tha first place?"

"I think dome friend of hers used that doctor when she was havin' trouble with her marriage. Turns out, she got divorced anyway."

"When are you goin' ta see 'er?" Daryl asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Tomorrow. Lori is leavin' for Savannah tonight, goin' to carry the kids to see her parents, so I figured it would be better if I went while she was out of town."

"Damn, you think she'd take Beth with 'er?"

Rick chuckled and shook his head. "I don't think this is that kind of trip. It's more like she's runnin' away from things again."

* * *

"Mr. Grimes," Dr. Linson greeted him, shaking his hand. "I'm glad you decided to speak with me again."

Rick shrugged. "I'm only here because I don't want to lose my wife and kids."

Dr. Linson pursed her lips together and nodded as she and Rick both took a seat.

"Mr. Grimes, why exactly are you afraid of losing your wife and kids?"

"Lori's gone to Savannah to see her parents and she carried the kids with her."

"Well, that doesn't seem all that bad. She's going to visit her family and has not given you a reason to think she's leaving," she paused and studied his face. "Or has she? Is there a reason for you to think she's leaving?"

"Oh there's a reason, a big ass reason, for me to think that. I know what she does in Savannah because I used to be friends with him. That's why she carries the kids to see her parents every month."

She leaned forward. "Lori is being unfaithful to you?"

"Yeah," Rick grunted.

"Are you sure that's the reason she's going to Savannah? Is there any other reason you can think of for her to go, one that doesn't involve her going to see another man?"

"Yeah," Rick said again. "But that reason isn't any better."

"What reason is that?"

Dr. Linson sighed once she realized Rick wasn't going to give her an answer. "Mr. Grimes, your wife has asked me to evaluate your marriage. I can't do that properly unless you give me the information I am asking for. What is the other reason your wife is going to Savannah?"

Rick stared at the doctor before looking down at the floor. "She's carryin' our daughter to see him."

"Carrying your daughter to see him?" She questioned. "What do you mean?"

"It's part of the agreement," Rick mumbled. "No one knows about it but we have an agreement with Shane, the guy in Savannah, that he can have visits with Judy when and where we say as long as he doesn't mention them to anyone and he doesn't show up here."

"So the reasons for the visits are for Judith's biological father to have contact with her? Does Lori's family know about this?"

"No. I don't think they do. Carl doesn't either."

"So how does this make you feel? Your wife carrying your daughter to see her biological father, I mean."

"I told you. I feel like I'm goin' to lose them."

"That is a fear, Mr Grimes, and while that certainly qualifies as an emotion, it's not what you feel. Do you feel angry, jealous, sad, or maybe on some level you feel happy about this? Tell me what it is you feel."

"All of it, I guess. Lori did this but it still comes back on me. She left when I caught her, came back and we made up, and then we found out she was pregnant but somehow it's my fault this has happened. It's my fault our marriage is failin' even though she's the one who left."

Dr. Linson clicked her pen and wrote something down on her note pad. "Mr. Grimes, have you tried talking to your wife, letting her know how you feel about your situation?"

Rick shook his head, "I've tried talkin' to her but not about that."

"I see. When will she be back from her trip?"

"She should be back Sunday night."

"Okay," Dr. Linson took out one of her cards and wrote down a date and time then handed it to him. "I want to see both of you here on Monday at eight."

He quickly nodded and stood up but before he could make it to the door, she stopped him.

"One more thing, Mr. Grimes. I won't speak a word of this to your wife, this is between you and I. But, part of the program is learning to communicate better and to share what you are truly feeling. If you both continue with this program, this is something I expect you to be able to bring up on your own, either here in sessions or at home, and you will need to figure out if it's something that can be worked out."

"Yeah," Rick mumbled to himself as he walked out of her office.

* * *

Beth tapped her fingers on the steering wheel as she waited in the driveway at Rick and Lori's house.

She knew Lori would be out of town but she wasn't worried about that. They were all friends and she could have a conversation with Rick without Lori being there.

As soon as Rick pulled up, Beth jumped out of her car and started towards him, only stopping when she saw the hurt and nervousness on his face.

"Is something the matter?" she asked.

"Uh….no. Just dealin' with some stuff at work."

She nodded in understanding and turned to walk beside him.

"Speakin' of work," she said once they were on the front porch. "I need to ask you for a favor."

Rick nodded and opened the front door, both of them stepping inside. "Sure, anythin'. What'd you need?"

She nervously wrung her hands together. "Daryl's been around Merle and he's been….well, I just need you to look into Merle and maybe Daryl, too."

"No," Rick interrupted. "Daryl's my friend, he's my brother."

"Rick, please. You're the only one that understands what's goin' on. You know Daryl's on parole. If he's doin' what I think he is, he'll go back to prison and knowin' Merle, he'll think it's funny as hell."

"Beth," Rick put his hand on her shoulder. "I saw Daryl yesterday and he was clean. He wouldn't come around me if he was doin' somethin' he shouldn't be, you know that."

She choked back her tears but was unable to keep her voice from cracking when she spoke again. "It's just, well, you know how he gets when he's been around Merle. He's been that way for weeks now."

"Bethie, has he done anythin' to you? Have you seen him do anythin' or are you assumin' he has because he's gone to Merle's."

"No, he hasn't done anythin' to me but I have seen him smokin' a joint. I know that doesn't sound like such a bad thing but I know he got it from Merle and that in itself is bad."

He took his hand off of her shoulder and sighed. "I'll see what I can do but I'm not makin' any promises. You know if he's doin' somethin' I won't be the one to arrest him and neither will Shawn. It'll be up to the Sheriff and whoever he puts on the case."

She shook her head. "I'm not askin' you to arrest him or to get him in some kind of trouble, I just want to know what he's doin' and if it's somethin' that could get him into trouble."

"I told you I'll look into it but I can't…."

"Turn a blind eye. I know, Rick. Just let me know before you tell anyone else, including Shawn."

"You'll be the first one I call," Rick assured her.

* * *

"Mr. Dixon," Dr. Linson ushered him into her office. "First of all, thank you for agreeing to meet with me again and second, I wanted to discuss a few things you brought up in our previous session. This is something I would like to clear up before we continue your counseling and definitely before we schedule your wife to come in for a couple's session."

Daryl gave her a slight nod as he sat down on the couch in her office.

"The last time you were in here, you brought up an incident that you admit could be a reason you're afraid of becoming a father," she said once she had sat down at her desk and had taken out a note pad. "Would you mind telling me more about this?"

He shrugged and mumbled, "I don't know what to tell you."

"Oh but I believe you do. Was this a one-time thing or has it happened on multiple occasions?"

"Jus' once," he answered.

"Have you made excuses for why you did it? Is there an excuse you've used in order to justify your actions?"

"Ain't no excuse fer what I did."

"Mr. Dixon I find that in situations like this, there's always an excuse. It may not be something you've admitted out loud, it could be something you're just telling yourself so you won't feel as bad about what you did."

"Why tha hell are we even talkin' 'bout this?"

"You hit your wife, Mr. Dixon. Before we continue with this I would like to be sure there's no chance of that happening again because of something that was said during a session," she said sternly. "Now tell me, did you do this out of anger or some kind of outside influence?"

"I was high," he began. "I'd been at my brother's house for a few days an' when I got home she was there."

"So you're saying you hit her because she was there?"

"Naw," he shook his head. "That ain't what I's sayin'. Shit, I don't even remember half a what happened that night but I remember hittin' 'er an' goin' through the glass door."

He looked up to see Dr. Linson watching him with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Go on," she said.

"After I did that to 'er, I's gon' leave so I opened tha back door an' somehow I fell through tha slidin' glass door."

"Do you remember why you hit her? Did she say or do something that pissed you off?"

"Naw," he replied. "It wasn't her, she didn't do anythin'. From what I's told, I went off on tha cops too an' one of 'em was her brother, tha other was a good friend a mine. I woke up in tha hospital an' they told me tha drugs I'd taken were laced with somethin' else. Guess it was trippin' me out 'cause they all told me I's talkin' an' actin' crazy."

"Are you still using drugs?"

"I ain't doin' that shit again."

"You didn't answer my question. Are you still using drugs?"

"Naw," he shook his head and stared down at the floor.

"Okay. This seems to have been an isolated event but, if you're not using drugs, I don't see why you would worry about this becoming a common occurrence if there were children involved. Would you like to tell me about that now or would you rather wait and share it in a couple's session?"

He shrugged.

"Mr. Dixon, please understand that I am not here to judge you or your wife, I want to help you. You don't have to tell me about any of this now, or ever, but I do expect you to talk to Beth about this at some point, and I hope we will be able to discuss it and the incident during a session."

"Is that all ya needed, doc?"

She stood and walked over to him.

"That's all but before you go, can I ask you to try to talk to your wife? You need to learn how to communicate with her. Just sit down and tell her whatever is on your mind, even if it's not important, I'm sure she would appreciate you trying and she won't get upset with you. She just needs to know you're there with her and that you're not going to turn away from her."

* * *

Daryl stirred the pot of stew he had cooking on the stove then went around the kitchen gathering up the rest of the dinner he was preparing for him and Beth.

He wasn't too sure about talking to her, and he didn't really want to do it, but Dr. Linson had made him feel guilty, not just for what he had done to Beth but that he was sneaking around to see her just so he could avoid bringing all of this up at home. But Dr. Linson had told him he didn't have to, he could talk to Beth about anything and she wouldn't get mad.

Yeah, he didn't believe her or half the shit she said to him, but he was going to try.

He heard Beth pull into the driveway and hurried around to set the food out.

"Daryl?" Beth called out when she entered the house.

"In here," Daryl replied.

He could hear her moving around, probably taking off her shoes, and her light footsteps to the kitchen.

"Somethin' smells good," she said from the doorway. "What's the occasion?"

"Didn't know there needed ta be one."

She smiled. "There doesn't need to be one. I'm just a little surprised is all. Usually I cook or we get take out."

He turned back to the food and dipped some of the stew out into a bowl and sat it down at the table.

"Here," he motioned to the spot where he'd sat the bowl.

Beth moved to sit down while Daryl fixed his own bowl and sat down across from her.

They were both silent as they each took a few bites and waited for the other to speak.

"How was your day?" Beth finally asked, knowing he hated to be the first to talk.

"Good," he mumbled around the food in his mouth.

After several minutes, Daryl pushed his bowl away and sat up straight and cleared his throat.

"How was yours?"

She smiled again. "It was good. Thank you for askin'."

This wasn't going too bad, he was talking and looking directly at her. He was happy with himself for doing that.

"I's thinkin' 'bout what you said, us needin' help an' all, an' I think you was right. There's some things that need ta be fixed with us."

She sat her spoon down and pushed her own bowl aside. "What do you think we need to fix?"

He shrugged. "I don't know but maybe we can work it out somehow."

She nodded in agreement. "I'd like that. Should I call Dr. Linson and set up an appointment?"

And there it was.

He felt himself choking on the word no and staring down at the kitchen table.

What would she think if they went to see this doctor and she brought up everything he had told her? She would surely be pissed then.

"Daryl, is everythin' alright?"

When she moved to stand up he stood and when she stepped towards him, he ran. Just like he always did. He went out the backdoor and headed straight for the woods.

He stepped into the shadows of the trees and turned back to look at the house where he could see Beth, standing there with her arms hugged around herself and crying.

He sat down against a tree, still out of sight from her but he could see the house, and took out a cigarette.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Wife Swap**

**Chapter 4**

****

Lori shifted Judith on her hip as she walked across the park to where the picnic tables were.

Shane stood up and smiled as he reached out for Judith. "Thanks for lettin' me see her earlier than usual. I hope there wasn't no problems with Rick or gettin' up here."

"There wasn't any problems at all," Lori said, taking a seat at the table across from Shane and Judith.

The little girl cooed and pulled at his hair as Lori reached into her diaper bag and pulled out a bottle, handing it over to Shane.

"Does Rick know why you're here?" he asked after giving the bottle to Judith.

"No," Lori shook her head. "He thinks I'm here for the same reason I always am. It's so hard to come here knowin' he doesn't trust me."

Shane shrugged. "We haven't exactly given him a reason to trust us."

"I know," Lori muttered.

"Andrea should be here soon," Shane finally said, breaking the silence they had settled into as Judith ate.

"Do you know how long this will take?"

"It shouldn't take long. We just need to sign the papers."

"No, Shane, not that. The whole process of this."

"I'm not sure but she said it shouldn't take too long."

They both fell quiet again until they heard footsteps approaching them.

"Andrea!" Lori squealed and jumped up at the sight of her. "Oh my God, you look beautiful!"

Andrea placed her hand on her stomach and let out a small laugh. "Well I certainly don't feel it. I'm huge and always uncomfortable."

"Don't worry, that's normal but it's worth it. Now sit," Lori ushered her over to the table.

"Okay," Andrea sighed once she had taken a seat and Lori had sat back down next to her. "I'm just going to go ahead and jump into this because we need to get it taken care of as soon as possible. Now, I know because of the paternity test, the name of Judith's father on her birth certificate was changed though she kept the last name Grimes, because of that, this whole process shouldn't take too long. I'm sure the court will grant the termination of parental rights and have Rick's name put back on her birth certificate. Lori, you do understand that you will no longer receive child support from Shane once this goes through?"

"I understand," Lori quickly said. "That's never been something I cared about."

Andrea reached into her purse and pulled out two stacks of papers and sat them on the table. "These papers are the ones you need to sign to terminate your rights," she said, picking up one stack and handing them to Shane. "And these," she picked up the other stack and handed them to Lori, "are the papers Rick will need to sign. I know it is crazy for him to have to adopt Judith but the only way this will work is if he legally adopts her. I'll file the termination papers first thing Monday and then I'll drive down some time next week and have Rick sign the adoption papers and get them to the judge for review. Are both of you sure this is what you want? Not just for yourselves but for Judith?"

"Yeah," Shane and Lori agreed at the same time.

"Okay then," Andrea stood. "I'll let you two discuss things while I use the little girl's room."

* * *

Beth exhaled a deep breath as she tossed the mail onto the kitchen table and sat the grocery bags down beside it.

She knew Daryl wouldn't be home for dinner tonight, just like he hadn't been the last two nights, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to cook. She'd just make him a plate, stick it in the fridge with the rest of the food and then wash his empty plate out in the morning.

As she took the items out of the bags, she stopped and dug her fingers into the loaf of bread before throwing it across the room.

She was being stupid, this whole damn situation was stupid, but she couldn't walk away. Not after everything they've been through.

None of this was entirely Daryl's fault, she knew that and had told him that many times. They were both screwed up, they both had their own problems and bringing those problems together under one roof was like mixing fire and gasoline.

"Glad I wasn't here when you decided to throw this," Rick said, startling Beth, as he picked up the loaf of bread.

She stared at Rick, neither of them saying anything until she muttered, "Oh God. No."

"Now Beth, that's not…."

"What happened? Where is he?" She said, fearing the worst and wanting to rush out of the door but finding herself unable to move.

Rick took a step towards her and shook his head. "Beth, it's not Daryl. I'm here because Merle took an overdose and is in ICU. Daryl's his next of kin so I have to notify him. I'm assuming he's not here, do you know where he is?"

She let out a shaky breath and swallowed, "He's at work."

"I just went by…." Rick stopped and watched Beth as she composed herself and turned to the fridge.

"If he's not at work then he may have stopped by Shorty's for a drink," she said as she began putting the food away.

Rick thought of telling her that he had already been by there and every other place he could think of where Daryl might be and he was nowhere to be found but he thought better of it.

He was friends with both Daryl and Beth but he knew they were having problems and he knew it would cause more problems if he told her the truth so he simply nodded to himself and said, "Alright, I'll run by there and see if I can get him to go see Merle. Thanks Beth."

She stood there looking inside the fridge until she heard the front door shut then she broke down.

She knew he wasn't at work and she knew he wasn't at Shorty's, she was sure Rick had already known that and had already checked the places he knew Daryl would have gone, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything about where she thought he may be.

* * *

Daryl sat there under that tree, one hand curled around a bottle of whiskey and the other dug into the earth beneath him.

He hadn't taken a drink but he wanted to, he wanted to sit there and do more than hate himself. He wanted to drink himself to death for telling that doctor what he had told her. It was something he didn't talk about with anyone, especially strangers and Beth.

"Fuck," he muttered at that thought.

Here he was, going behind his wife's back to see a shrink, telling her things he didn't want to say to Beth, things he really couldn't say to her.

His wife hated him, of that he was sure. After everything he put her through, how could she not? How could she not hate him every time he ran from her, every time he yelled or threw something her way?

He was his father's son, maybe even more than Merle was sometimes.

* * *

Lori and Rick arrived at Dr. Linson's office five minutes before eight and were quickly shown to a room in the back.

As soon as they sat down, Dr. Linson stepped in and shut the door. She sat down and waited a couple of minutes before she began.

"I've had the chance to speak with each of you individually, and though I will not say what was discussed in the individual sessions, you both know that you will need to discuss it with each other at some point. You may think it would be easier to do this at home but clearly that hasn't been working so I am providing you with a safe place to express your feelings, talk about your problems, and to figure out if you want to save your marriage. I've said it many times but I'll say it again, talking and communicating isn't all that a marriage is built on. It may be necessary but it's not everything. I'm only going to ask this of each of you once today before I give you an assignment to work on tonight, is there anything that has happened in the last week either of you would like to talk about?"

She watched them both as Lori flicked her eyes to Rick and he looked away nervously. Neither of them said a word so Dr. Linson continued.

"I want you both to read over this carefully," she said, handing them each an envelope. "Each envelope contains two sheets of paper with a separate assignment. You are to do exactly as it says on the first page, seal it in an envelope and return it to my office at your appointment on Friday. And the second page is for you to do on your own and it will be discussed on Friday. Now, I want you to both understand that I have given you each separate assignments and I do not want either of you knowing what they are. This is the first step of many. You need to trust your spouse and trust yourself."

"Is that it?" Lori asked.

"Yes ma'am, it is. I'll see you both on Friday to discuss these assignments. They will determine what the next steps will be."

* * *

Beth woke up to her cell phone ringing. She rubbed her eyes and hesitated to answer it but she did anyway.

"Hello?" she said sleepily.

"Mrs. Dixon, this is D. Linson. I was calling to see if you would be able to come in for a session around eleven," the woman said before Beth even had a chance to process who was speaking.

"Uh…," she tilted her head to look at the clock on her nightstand. "You want me to be there in twenty minutes?"

"Yes, I do. It's very important that we talk and discuss whether or not you and your husband will try going through my program."

She sat up and rubbed her eyes again. "Dr. Linson, I really don't think we're goin' to need your help. We can't seem to agree….."

"I'll see you at eleven," Dr. Linson interrupted her and promptly ended the call.

She sat there for a minute, stunned and still half asleep.

She quickly dressed and hurried to Dr. Linson's office, hoping the woman would be understanding when she told her they weren't going to go through with her treatment.

When she arrived, she took a deep breath and calmly walked inside.

Dr. Linson was behind the front desk talking to the receptionist. She looked up and smiled when she saw Beth enter.

"Mrs. Dixon," she called out, opening the door to the waiting room. "Follow me."

Beth did as she was told and followed Dr. Linson to her office.

Before she opened the door, Dr. Linson turned to her and smiled again. "You go on in and I'll be with you in a moment."

When she walked away, Beth hesitantly turned the doorknob and stepped inside, nearly jumping when she notice someone else was in the room.

"Daryl? What are you doin' here?" she asked.

He shrugged and looked down. "Uh…tha doc….she called me an' asked if I could come in, said she wanted ta talk ta us."

She nodded and sighed as she took a seat on the couch next to him.

"You didn't come home last night," she said, not looking his way. "Rick came by lookin' for you but I didn't tell him where you were. He said Merle was in the hospital."

"I know," he muttered.

"Did you go see him?"

"First thing this mornin'."

She turned to him then. "Why does he hate me so much?"

"He doesn't hate ya, Beth."

"Really? He doesn't hate me? After everythin' he's said and done, you don't think he hates me? Every time he's around, he smarts off and talks shit, Daryl. He stood up at our wedding and said he didn't think we should get married. He told you in front of all of our friends and family that you were making a mistake."

She went quiet, giving him the chance to answer, to object to what she said but he didn't. He sat there, looking down at his hands and bouncing his knee until the door opened.

"Am I interrupting?" Dr. Linson asked as she stepped into her office.

"Nope," Beth answered quickly.

"Alright. I would like to start with some questions for you Mrs. Dixon."

Beth gave her a little nod.

"Mrs. Dixon, where do you see yourself in ten years? More importantly, where do you see your marriage in ten years?"

Beth glanced over at Daryl who hadn't looked up from his hands then back to the doctor. "Well, I've thought about it before and in ten years I would like for us to be in a good place. To be together and to be able to talk without either of us getting' mad or leavin'."

"That's great. But that doesn't answer my question. Where do you see your marriage going? Where do you see it at in ten years? I don't want to know what you've thought about, I want to know what you see happening."

She looked down at her own hands and muttered, "I don't see us together."

"And why is that?"

"I….I don't see how we could be together. I've tried tellin' myself that things will work out but lately everythin' has gotten worse and I just don't see how we could live ten more years like this," she looked over at Daryl to see him staring at her.

"Daryl, where do you see your marriage in ten years?" Dr. Linson then asked.

He continued to stare at Beth. "Same."

Dr. Linson watched as Beth let out a deep, ragged breath and Daryl just sat there quietly.

"Neither one of you see your marriage working out?"

"No," Beth replied.

"Well then, I can't help you," she said.

"You….You're givin' up on us?" Beth asked.

"No. I'm not giving up on you but it's obvious the two of you have given up and when that happens, there's really nothing I can do. I can advise you both to quit wasting your time. Talk it over, talk to lawyers, and move on."

Beth was horrified at what Dr. Linson had said but she wasn't at all surprised, not until Daryl jumped up to leave and Dr. Linson stopped him.

"You still have your appointment next week, Daryl," she said. "I expect to see you there."

He nodded and rushed out of the room with Beth right behind him.

"Daryl," she called out when the stepped into the parking lot. "Daryl, please wait."

He stopped and turned around, waiting for her to speak.

"Daryl, I….I'm sorry."

He chuckled. "No you're not an' neither am I."

"Don't say that," she began to cry. "She didn't let me finish. I haven't given up on us but with the way things have been lately I can't see us being together in ten years but that doesn't mean I've given up."

* * *

Rick shook his head, shoving the papers back across the table to Lori.

"You want me to adopt my own daughter?"

She looked down at the papers then back up at him.

"Yes. It's the only way I can find to fix what I've done."

He stood. "I get it now, why you're doin' this, I get it. You want to make things right so you don't have to feel bad about what you did. Is that it? You want me to pretend you don't run off to see him every chance you get?"

"That's not why I'm doin' this, Rick."

"Then tell me why you are doin' it."

She stood and reached out for him. "I'm doin' this because I want what's best for our daughter. Judith is your daughter, she always has been, but this will make it official."

"And what if the doc is right?" He asked. "What if she's right and we can't work things out? Are you goin' to run back to Savannah, to Shane, if we can't work things out?"

"No, Rick. I'm not goin' to run and I haven't been goin' back to Shane. What happened between me and him was a mistake. I won't apologize for Judith but it was a mistake, one I will never make again. You have to believe me."

"I don't have to do anythin'. You don't think I want Judith? She's my daughter but havin' me sign adoption papers doesn't mean I can forget what you did, Lori. I trusted you and I trusted Shane. You both went behind my back and left me lookin' like a fool."

Lori placed her hand over the papers on the table and tapped her finger on them.

"I'm not runnin' away, I'm not leavin' this time but I am leavin' these here. Andrea will be down in a few days, you can sign them if you want and if not, well, I don't know what to do from there."

He watched her walk away, standing firm in his place until he heard their bedroom door shut.

* * *

"You and Beth ever get around to talkin' to that crazy doctor?" Rick asked Daryl as the both sat down with a beer.

"Yeah, we did."

"And?"

"An' she all but told us we didn't have a chance in hell at makin' it."

"Shit," Rick mumbled. "She said the same thing to me and Lori. I'm startin' to think I maybe that's her thing. She fucks things up, makes shit worse for marriages, and then she swoops in and tries to fix the shit she caused."

Daryl shook his head. "Naw man. Me an' Beth ain't been workin' out an' it ain't got nothin' ta do with that doc. She jus' got Beth ta say what I've been 'fraid she was thinkin'."

Rick took one look at his friend, his brother, and took a big swallow of his beer and tried to change the subject.

"Have you had a chance to talk to Merle about rehab?"

"Yeah, I tried ta talk 'im in ta goin' but he didn't want ta hear it."

"Why not? You did tell him he's only got two choices, right?"

"I told 'im he could either go ta rehab or jail but he started talkin' shit, sayin' he knew Beth was tha reason I was talkin' to 'im 'bout goin' ta rehab an' he'd rather be in jail."

"Well, have you talked to Beth about it?"

"Naw man, I ain't. Tha day after you stopped by tha house is when we met with tha doc. She asked me then why Merle hated 'er but that's all that was said 'bout 'im. I'm startin' ta think he was right though. I shouldn't a married 'er."

Rick snorted. "Man, I know he's your brother but do you really think you should be takin' marriage advice from him? He's fucked up three marriages and those were just his own. I tell ya, Carol was a saint for puttin' up with him as long as she did but Merle Dixon, he's not made for marriage and he sure as hell ain't someone you should be listenin' to when it comes to yours and Beth's marriage."

* * *

"It's really over, Lori," Beth cried. "Daryl hates me."

"Sweetie," Lori said, putting her arms around Beth's shoulders and pulling her to her. "Daryl doesn't hate you. That man loves you more than I've seen anyone love somebody. You just need to sit him down and tell him how you feel, how sorry you are for what you said. You'll look back on this and see that it was just a bump in the road."

"I….I don't think it's just a bump in the road, Lori. We're done, over with, and it's all my fault. I've pushed him so much."

Lori pulled away from Beth but kept her arms around her.

"Bethie, I'm goin' to tell you something that I haven't told anyone. It's one of the reasons Rick and I have been having trouble and it's why I sought out Dr. Linson for help." Beth nodded and Lori took a deep breath before she continued. "Rick isn't Judith's biological father."

Beth pulled away from her friend and stared at her in confusion. "What?"

"Well, long story short, Shane and I had an affair. I regret it every day but Rick hasn't forgiven me for it and honestly, I'm not sure that he ever will."

"Wait," Beth held up her hand. "You cheated on Rick? With Shane? What the hell is wrong with you, Lori? Why would you ever cheat on Rick?"

"Beth, we were having problems, same as you and Daryl, but I chose to run from them. I thought our marriage was over, that nothing could salvage what little of it was left so I ran and did something foolish."

Beth jumped up from her seat, tear still glistening in her eyes. "How dare you compare our marriages?! Daryl has never once cheated on me and I have never cheated on him!"

Lori stood and reached out to her. "That's not what I meant, Beth. The whole point of me telling you this was for you to see that you shouldn't give up on your marriage. That's what I did, that's where I went wrong, and now there's nothing I can do to make things right. I don't want to see you give up. You and Daryl love each other so much and I know it may not seem like it now, but there is still hope. You just have to believe there is and do absolutely everything and anything to work it out."

"No," Beth snapped and pushed Lori away when she reached out for her again. "I gotta go."

* * *

Beth was pissed, hurt, and a little scared when she left Lori and Rick's. She knew Rick would be at her house with Daryl and she really didn't feel up to facing either of them after talking to Lori.

When she had finally stopped crying, she was surprised to see that she had managed to make it safely to where she hadn't expected to go.

She wiped her eyes with her hands, reached into the console and pulled out her gun. When she opened the car door and stepped out, she tucked it into the back of her jeans and began walking towards the house.

She knocked twice before she heard someone shuffling around on the other side, then the door swung open and she reached for the gun, pulling it out and pointing it at the man's face before her.

"Don't say a word," she told the man. "Step back inside and sit down."

He chuckled and shook his head. "Damn girl, ya plan on killin' me?"

"No, I am not goin' to kill you. I'm here to talk."

He back up until he was at the couch and flopped down with Beth still pointing the gun at him.

"Now, let's get one thing straight, Merle. I don't give a fuck if you do drugs, I don't give a fuck if you fuck every woman in town, or if you don't like me but Daryl is my husband and your brother so whatever the hell is so horrible about me, you need to tell me. We need to fix this shit now because you will not come between us anymore. You will not fill Daryl's head with whatever shit it is you have to say."

He grinned and tipped his head towards the chair in front of him. "Why don't ya put that gun down then ya can have a seat so we can talk 'bout this."

"I'm fine with standin'," she said but lowered the gun to her side.

"I don't hate ya but I do hate what ya've done ta my baby brother. He ain't tha same since he got with you." He chuckled. "Man, I thought our pop fucked us up in tha head with all tha shit he did but you, you got 'im beat, Darlin'. You fucked with his head so much he don't know his own ass from a hole in tha ground."

"How have I fucked him up? You're the one who fills his head with bullshit ideas. You're the one who gives him drugs, gets him thrown in jail, and you're the one that always disappears and then when you do come back you end up pullin' him down with you."

Merle jumped up and yelled, "You fucked him up when you made 'im marry you! You fucked 'im up when ya told 'im ya wanted kids. Daryl ain't tha daddy type, Darlin'. Hell, you know that. You know what kind a daddy he'd be, all ya gotta do is take one look at 'is back ta see that."

She chocked back her tears. "Daryl is not your dad and he is not you!"

Merle grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her before she could bring the gun up towards him. He held her arm in place and whispered, "That night when you was in that wreck with your folks, Daryl was home. He was fuckin' Heidi in your bed."

"No he wasn't. He was with Rick. They took Carl to Talladega that weekend," she said more to herself than to him.

"Really? He got ya believin' that? How tha hell do ya think he got back 'ere so fast after he got tha call?"

"He was with Rick," she repeated in a whisper.

Merle let her go then and shoved her away with a laugh. "Believe what ya want, Darlin', but I know what happened. I's there with 'im, even had that lil' friend of yers on tha couch but hell that was after Daryl had already had 'er."

Beth steeled herself, kept the tears from falling as she stared at Merle.

She still had her gun in her hand but as much as she wanted to raise it and pull the trigger, she couldn't. She couldn't do that to Daryl.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So if you've read any of my other stories, you know I include a lot of angst in them and well, this chapter is no different.

**Wife Swap**

**Chapter 5**

****

It had been a few hours since Beth had left Merle's house. She was still in shock by what had happened and what he had said but she couldn't bring herself to believe him.

Daryl just wasn't that type, at least she didn't think he was. After all, it had taken him a long time to open up to her, even though he still hasn't opened up completely and they had been together for years.

She needed to find a way to ease her pain and put her mind to rest after what she had just been told but she was afraid to ask Daryl outright. What would happen if she did?

Well, that was a stupid question to ask. She knew damn well what would happen.

He would get angry and say she was accusing him of shit and then he'd run away from her. But she was beginning to think that maybe that wasn't such a bad thing and she wouldn't blame him for doing that.

She would never take Merle's word over Daryl's, she never believed half of the things Merle would say, but she was beginning to think he was telling the truth, or at least he was telling her a piece of the truth.

* * *

Rick took a deep breath when he walked into his house. All of the lights were out but there was a dim light coming from the television in the living room. He smiled to himself when he noticed Carl was curled up on the couch asleep. The boy was so oblivious to what was going on between his parents and Rick prayed it would stay that way, even if they separated.

He was hesitant to go to his bedroom, the one he shared with Lori, when he had been sleeping on the couch the last few nights but something had to give. Lori was trying to make things right, even if she wasn't going about it the right way or the way he thought she should but she was trying, and after talking to Daryl and telling him what she had done, he realized he need to make a little more effort to save their marriage.

Put a little more effort into it and try to work out their problems. That's really all either of them could do.

* * *

Daryl paced the floor in the living room, only stopping to look out of the window. He was waiting for her to come home though he knew she was probably still upset but he had to take Rick's advice and just talk to her, no matter how uncomfortable he got he had to suck it up and quit being a pussy about something as simple as talking to his wife.

He knew the moment Rick started telling him about Lori and Shane he didn't want to end up like them. He loved Beth more than anything or anyone in the world and he wasn't sure how he'd take it if he lost her. Well, he knew well enough that he wouldn't last long without out, maybe a few days, if that long, and he would lose his mind.

He kept an eye on his phone, hoping she would call and getting more worried the later it got. He always feared the worst when she was gone like this, even if he was the reason she had left in the first place.

Finally, he sat down on the couch and turned the television on to distract himself but that didn't help because there wasn't a damn thing on at ten o'clock at night except for the news.

* * *

Beth knew she was stubborn and probably being a little too emotional when she started the drive out to her parent's farm. Thankfully she stopped and pulled her car over before making it out of town.

She had turned into exactly what she hated. A runner. That was what Daryl always did and she hated it. She didn't hate him but the way he dealt with his problems was exactly how she was dealing with hers now.

It was now or never, she knew that. That's why she turned her car around as fast as she could and headed back home.

As soon as Beth's car pulled into the driveway, Daryl was up and out of the house.

"Where tha fuck ya been?" He shouted across the yard when she got out of the car.

She kept her mouth shut and started to walk past him when he grabbed her arm.

"Beth, it's fuckin' midnight. Where tha hell have ya been?"

She glanced down at his hand on her arm then back up at him. "I had a little chat with Merle," she said before pulling her arm out of his grip and going inside. His tone of voice was beginning to piss her off and what had started as her coming home to save their marriage was replaced by the anger she felt at their whole fucked up situation.

He followed her straight into their room and stood in the doorway as she began to change into her pajamas.

"What did you an' Merle talk 'bout?"

She chuckled halfheartedly and looked up at him and said, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Shit, Beth, jus' answer my question an' quit fuckin' around an' playin' games."

"Oh no," she shook her head. "I'm not the one that's been fuckin' around but honey, you better believe that that's a game I can play too and I'm just gettin' started."

He started at her in confusion as she grabbed a pillow off of the bed and the afghan from across the foot of it.

"Where ya goin'?" he finally managed to ask.

"I'm sleepin' in the other room."

"Why?"

She stopped outside the door to the guest room and lifted her head to look at him. "Heidi. Amy."

He forrowed his brow and continued to stare at her but not move.

"How many more were there that I don't know about, Daryl?"

"What tha hell are ya talkin' 'bout?"

She tried to keep her voice from breaking but it couldn't be helped when she spoke. "You know who answers a question with a question? Someone who has screwed up and knows they've been caught. I'm stayin' in here until I can figure out what I'm doin' and where I'm goin'. You can have our room. I'll move my things out of there tomorrow."

He stood there staring at the door to the guest room long after she had shut it and had turned the light off.

* * *

When she woke up the next morning, Beth expected to be alone in the house so she could move her things out of their room and into the guest room but when she heard the sound of pots clanging in the kitchen, she hurried to their room and got changed. She didn't want to see or speak to him right now, maybe when she calmed down and knew what she was doing she would but she just couldn't handle it today.

She tried to be quiet but he had heard her the second her feet touched the floor and before she had a chance to sneak out of the house, he was there.

"I don't know what tha fuck you was talkin' 'bout last night but I was thinkin' 'bout it an' I want ta get one thing straight with ya, I ain't ever fucked no one else since I've been with ya. Ya got that? If what ya said last night is true, who have you fucked since we've been together?"

She tilted her head to the side and looked straight in his eyes but didn't say a word.

"Don't give me that look," he said. "I ain't as stupid as ya think I am."

"I know you're not stupid, Daryl. If you think I've been with someone else, well then, I guess you're smart enough to figure it out on your own."

* * *

"She really said that?" Rick asked in shock.

"Yeah," Daryl nodded and stood from the chair in front of Rick's desk. "She said I'd figure it out on my own."

"Look man, I've known Beth a long time and I know she would never do that. Merle must have said somethin' to really piss her off and she decided to get even or say somethin' stupid like that to make you think she has."

Daryl rubbed his hand over the back of his neck and walked over to the window that looked out into the parking lot.

"I thought 'bout that too," he said. "But tha thing is, Beth wouldn't say somethin' like that jus' ta piss me off an' she's shit at lyin'. I can always tell when she is 'cause she gets fidgety an' there's too many holes in 'er lies, even over somethin' simple like a birthday party or a scratch on tha car. But when she said that, there wasn't no holes, she wasn't fidgetin', nothin'. I believe 'er."

"Maybe that's what she wants," Rick said.

Daryl lowered his eyes to the floor and spoke again. "I've been thinkin' 'bout who it could've been too an' there's only a few people I think fit tha bill." He looked over at Rick. "You've fucked 'er, haven't ya?"

Rick's eyes grew wide and he almost laughed but he didn't. He looked his friend straight in the eyes and said, "I've never fucked Beth. I've always seen her as a little sister, nothin' more."

"How can I trust you?" Daryl asked. "I've trusted Beth an' now she says this shit."

"You can trust me, Daryl. I've never looked at her that way and I'd never do that to someone."

Daryl let out a shaky breath and laughed. "This has me so fucked up. I know ya wouldn't ever do that but I had ta ask, man. Other than you, I got a few guesses but I don't even want ta think 'bout who it was 'cause I know I'll kill 'em if I find out it's true."

"Hey, if you're goin' to do that, the less I know the better. But I've been where you are now. When I found out about Lori and Shane, I did try to kill him."

"Aw hell, is that what happened when y'all went up ta Atlanta fer that Braves game?"

"Yep," Rick nodded. "He didn't know I knew about them, Lori didn't know I knew and I wasn't even 100% sure of it until we were there. We went out to a bar after the game and a few drinks in he started talkin' 'bout some of the women there and how he'd like to fuck 'em but he knew the woman he was seein' wouldn't be happy about. I didn't think anythin' of it but a few more drinks later and he pulled out his phone and called her right there in front of me. He started in callin' her baby and then he said her name and I knew. That's when I got my knife and jumped at 'im. I wanted to slit his throat open or maybe gut 'im but I'd been drinkin' too and, well, you know the rest."

"Damn," Daryl muttered.

"That's why I'm tellin' you now, if you find out she really did fuck someone else and you find out who he is, don't let me know and don't fuck it up like I did. Keep your hands and your clothes clean and I'll do all I can for you."

Daryl gave him a quick nod and said, "Thanks man."

* * *

Beth had called her sister and left a message for her as she was pulling out of the driveway. She knew Maggie was probably busy but busy or not, they were sisters and were supposed to be there for each other.

She was sitting at a picnic table in the park and crying when Maggie walked up to her.

"Oh Bethie, What happened?" she asked.

"I screwed up. I lied to Daryl," she cried. "And….and now it's over. He'll never forgive me."

Maggie started laughing and put her arm around her shoulders. "Beth, I'm sure Daryl's not worried about a few more scratches on the car. I would be willin' to bet that he's at home fixin' it right now and will forgive as soon as you get back."

Beth glared up at her sister with tears still running down her face. "How can you laugh right now? I didn't lie about some stupid car, Maggie! I told him I fucked someone else and if he was smart enough he would figure out who it was!"

Maggie gasped but didn't move from hugging her little sister. "Why would you do that, Beth?"

"Because Merle told me that he and Daryl had Heidi and, I assume, Amy over the night I was in that accident with Mama and Daddy. He said Daryl had them in our bed."

"I thought he was with Rick and Carl when that happened," Maggie stated.

"So did I but apparently he wasn't. He lied to me, just like he always does and I tried to get back at him by saying what I did. I can't believe Daryl cheated on me. I shouldn't have said what I did, I know that, but what else was I supposed to say to him?"

"Well, I'm not sayin' you were right to say that but I'm not sayin' you were wrong either, Bethie, but maybe you should have talked to Daryl first instead of takin' Merle's word for it."

"I know," Beth groaned and wiped her face on her sleeve.

"Beth, have you slept with anyone other than Daryl? I mean, at all. Before y'all got together or, I'm not sayin' you cheated too but, even after?"

Beth but her face in her hands and nodded. "Yeah," she said though it was mumbled.

"Yeah? Before or after you and Daryl started seein' each other?"

"After," she mumbled. "But Daryl knows about it. It happened the weekend after he broke up with me and he took off to Destin with Merle."

"Who did you sleep with?" Maggie asked more out of curiosity than judgment.

"I'm not tellin' you who it was. Daryl knows and that's all that matters."

"So, how did Daryl find out?"

"When he got back, we were talkin' and he told me he wanted to start over and I told him who I had been with while he was gone but we weren't' together and we promised we'd never bring that up and what do you know, I brought it up but he doesn't know that's what I was talkin' about."

Maggie shook her head. "I'm a little confused, Bethie. You know I love Daryl but I've never understood why you got back together after he left you like he did and then for you to go and tell him you slept with someone while he was gone is just plain stupid. That wasn't any of his business because he is the one that left you. Did he ever mention if he slept with someone or several someone's while he was gone?" When Beth shook her head, Maggie continued. "I didn't think so. Maybe he's more like Merle than we thought and he knows who you're talkin' about and if he does, that make him a coward. If he knows and he let you leave and you're sittin' here thinkin' your marriage is over, that's on him because he's playin' you."

"He is not, Maggie."

"Okay, if you think he's not, let's go. We'll go to your house or wherever he may be and the two of you will sit down and talk this shit over."

"That won't work. We've tried talkin' before and it always ends up bad."

"Here," Maggie reached into her purse, pulled out her keys and took one off the keychain. "Go to my house and stay there for a while. Glenn won't be home 'til late and I'll be there as soon as I finish at the store."

Beth simply nodded and took her sisters key.

* * *

The first thing Maggie did when she left the park was drive straight to Beth and Daryl's house. She had a bone to pick with her brother-in-law and she knew all of his little hideouts if he wasn't there.

Sure enough, his truck was gone but she still used the spare key to go inside to be sure he wasn't around there somewhere and just letting his brother use his truck.

When she found he wasn't there, she went to Rick's house and then Merle's, and when she didn't find him at either, she drove over to the police station and walked right into Rick's office without knocking.

"Why are you thankin' Rick?" She asked as she closed the door behind her.

Rick, seeing the anger in Maggie's eyes, spoke up. "He was thankin' me for getting' Merle into treatment."

"Rick, can you do me a favor and get out?" Maggie asked as politely as she could.

"Uh….yeah. I'll be right outside the door if y'all need anythin'."

When Rick shut the door behind him, Maggie turned to Daryl. "Rick fightin' your battles now?"

"Hell naw."

"Good 'cause we need to talk about you and Beth. You can either tell me what the hell is goin' on or I'll be more than happy to beat it out of you."

He scoffed and Maggie smiled.

"You must be stupid or either you don't remember what happened when you left my sister before," Maggie said and crossed her arms.

"I remember but I was high. You could beat tha shit out of a bear if it was on tha shit I was on."

"You want to test out that theory? I mean, I'll be more than happy to beat the shit out of you and string you up on the courthouse lawn. I'd do it all with a smile on my face for the trouble and pain you've cause my sister."

"You don't know what tha fuck you're talkin' 'bout!" He shouted. "Have ya talked ta 'er? Has she told you she cheated on me?"

Maggie took the few steps towards him and pushed him backwards. "I've talked to her, I know some of what is goin' on, includin' the parts she's not tellin' me. Maybe if you would get your fuckin' head out of your goddamn ass you would see that she didn't cheat on you! You would see the pain she's in and maybe, just maybe you'd see whats goin' on with her!"

He brought his hand up to his mouth and started chewing on his thumb nail.

"Yeah, that's right, Daryl. Go ahead and act scared or run just like you always do when things get tough. Beth had told me you were seein' a marriage counselor and I was hopin' that would fix some of the problems y'all were havin' but I see that it's nothin' a doctor can fix, you have to fix it yourself. Just….just stop runnin' and talk to her. If she tries to interrupt, tell her to shut the hell up and when you're finished then she can talk but one way or another, y'all are goin' to fix this shit-storm." She turned for the door then looked back at him. "C'mon. I ain't leavin' here without you."

Daryl didn't nod or say anything to her, he followed her out of the room, glanced at Rick then down to the floor, and followed his sister-in-law out of the police station.

"Beth's at my house," Maggie said when they reached his truck. "Go by there and beg her to talk to you and if she won't, then sit outside and wait for me to get there."

* * *

Beth sat in the parking lot across the street from the police station, watching and waiting for Daryl and Maggie to leave.

She wasn't stupid, she knew Maggie wasn't going to the store but was really going to look for Daryl, and if she knew Maggie like she thought she did, she knew her sister had probably told Daryl to go by her house and have a talk with her.

She was willing to do that, especially at Maggie's, but she had to get some answers first.

When her sister and husband pulled out of the parking lot in front of the police station, she jumped out of her car and hurried across the street.

* * *

"Aw fuck," Rick muttered when Beth walked into his office. "What is it with you Dixon's and Greene's? Y'all want to be arrested or somethin'?"

She shrugged. "Did Daryl go to Talladega with you and Carl?"

"Huh?"

"You heard me, Rick. Don't make me ask you again."

"Yeah, I heard you but I don't know why you're askin' that. You know he went with us." Rick tilted his head to the side and studied her for a moment before he sighed and motioned for her to have a seat. "Look Beth, I've already had Daryl and Maggie both in here talkin' shit and stirrin' it up. I love all of y'all but this is getting' out of hand so the best thing you can do is start talkin'."

"If Daryl was with you, how did he make it back here so fast after…."

"After we got the call 'bout you and your folks?"

She nodded and Rick leaned forward on his desk.

"I know you were in the hospital when we got back but I thought Lori would have told you already." He sighed. "We made it back quicker than we should have because we were already on our way home when we got the call. The race had gotten rained out so we went carried Carl to an old theater to see _The Shining_ , that part Lori doesn't know about, but after that we headed home because Carl was too scared to sleep in a motel. He wanted Lori. That's why we made it back so quick. Carl was scared but he kept all three ticket stubs if you want proof."

"No, that's alright," she said and stood up. "Thank you, Rick. For everythin', for always bein' there for us."

Rick nodded and let out a breath of relief when she walked out.

* * *

Daryl was sitting in his truck in Maggie's driveway when she pulled up. They both got out of their vehicles and before she could ask, she saw that Beth's car wasn't there.

"Did she leave or was she gone when you got here?" She asked.

"She was gone when I got here."

"Alright, come inside and I'll try callin' her. Maybe she'll answer for me."

* * *

Beth ignored the calls from her sister but she knew she couldn't ignore them forever, she just couldn't go over there or talk to her right now especially since she knew Daryl was there waiting for her.

She trusted Rick and believed him a hell of a lot more than she did Merle but she needed to gather herself before she went to Maggie's.

Taking a deep breath, Beth looked down at her wedding ring and twisted it around her finger.

"God, please forgive," she whispered as she put the car in drive.

* * *

"She's not comin'," Daryl said while Maggie tapped the arm of her chair nervously.

"She'll be here, Daryl. I know she will. Just give her time."

"It's been two fuckin' hours, how much more time does she need?"

"A little more time won't kill you."

A few minutes later, they both stood and listened when Beth's car pulled into the driveway.

Daryl started for the door but Maggie grabbed his arm to stop him. "Don't. Let her come inside and give her a minute before you start in on her."

He nodded and they both sat back down until Beth came inside.

"It's about time you showed up," Maggie said, standing to hug her sister. "You want somethin' to drink?"

"No," Beth shook her head.

"Okay then, have a seat and we can start talkin'."

"Maggie, can you please let us talk alone?" Beth asked.

"Nope. That hasn't been workin' so y'all are stuck with me until one or both of you figures out how to save your marriage. So sit down and Daryl will go first."

Beth sat down and clasped her hands in her lap around her car keys, praying they would eventually give her a chance to talk.

"Daryl?" Maggie all but shouted when he didn't start talking.

He shifted towards Beth and hung his head. "I jus' wanna know who ya slept with," he mumbled. "That shit ya said, ya didn't say it ta hurt me, ya said it 'cause it was tha truth. Jus' tell me who it was an' what ya want ta do."

"I….I haven't slept with anyone, Daryl. I did say that to hurt you but only because I chose to listen to that dumbass brother of yours instead of my gut."

"What tha hell are ya talkin' 'bout?"

"He told me you slept with Heidi instead of bein' with Rick and Carl in Talladega. He said y'all were in our bed and he had some girl on the couch and then you slept with her too."

"Fuck, Beth. That was almost two years ago. I wasn't with no one then an' I ain't been with no one since."

"I know that, Daryl. I talked to Rick earlier and he told me the truth."

"Tha truth bein' we carried Carl to Talladega for his birthday an' instead of watchin' a race we watched an old movie that scared tha shit out a tha boy so we came home."

"Yeah, that," she nodded and looked over to Maggie. "Can you please give us a minute alone? Please?"

Maggie stood up, "I'll give you a minute alone but neither of you can leave. If you do, I will hunt you down and drag your ass back here. Got it?"

They both nodded their heads and when Maggie stepped out of the room, Beth moved over to the couch next to Daryl.

"I'm so, so sorry," she cried. "It was stupid of me to say what I did. I've never, ever cheated on you. I just wanted to hurt you because I thought you had cheated on me, in our bed, and you've hurt me so much, it's all I could think of to get back at you."

She reached out for his hand but he slapped it away.

"I looked inta yer eyes when ya said it, Beth. You wasn't lyin' an' I ain't takin' tha blame for it."

His attitude was making her mad but all she wanted to do was throw herself at him and beg him to forgive her, but she didn't. She had more restraint than that.

"Here," she said instead, handing him a slip of paper. "I set us up an appointment with Dr. Linson, kind of a last chance for us. It's in three weeks so that should be plenty of time for you to decide if you want to show up for a couples meeting instead of an individual one."

"A last chance?" he asked.

"Yeah, a last chance. If we can't make it work, we can get divorced and I'll move back out to the farm and I'll never bother you again."

* * *

Maggie was out of the room, giving them their space, but that didn't mean she wasn't listening. A good big sister always listens and pays attention.

When Daryl stood up from the couch, she decided then was a good time to go back into the living room with them.

"Hey, Maggie, I'ma head home," Daryl said.

Maggie looked over Beth, then back to Daryl and nodded.

She waited until his truck cranked up to sit down next to her sister and put her arm around him.

"You should have told him, Beth."

Beth pulled back from her sister and looked at her in confusion.

"It wouldn't have done any good," she finally said.

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Okay, this story is supposed to be about Daryl and Beth as well as Rick and Lori but I can't seem to write a chapter based on Rick and Lori alone so I'm throwing in bits and pieces of their story into the Bethyl chapters.
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy and if you've read my stories before, then you know that not everything is as it seems.
> 
> Enjoy and Review!

**Wife Swap**   
**Chapter 6**

"To be honest with you, Beth, I'm not sure why you got so mad at Daryl over somethin' Merle said. I mean, I get it but you know how Merle is," Maggie said as she and Beth put fresh sheets on the bed in her guest room.

"There's a lot more to it than that, Mags."

"Really? Like what?"

Beth sighed, let go of the sheet, and sat down on the bed. "Because we had a fight before he left."

"That's why you were stayin' with Mama and Daddy," Maggie interrupted. "What did y'all fight about?

"Well, we had found out that I was pregnant not long before that. It wasn't like I tried to trap him or anythin', he knew we had been tryin' but when we went to a doctor's appointment a few days before and they did an ultrasound, I guess it freaked him out. He kept his distance from me and then he just blurted out that he and Rick were carryin' Carl to Talladega. I wasn't mad that he was goin' with them or anythin' like that, I was mad because I felt like he was runnin' again. I felt like he was running' out on me again and I didn't know if he'd come back."

"And then Merle told you he was cheatin' on you and that pissed you off?"

"Yeah," Beth nodded and Maggie sat down next to her and put her arm around her shoulders.

"That's not all is it, Bethie?"

She shook her head and laid it on her sister's shoulder and started crying. "It's not. Maggie, it's really not. I don't understand why he doesn't want kids with me. Am I that horrible?"

"Of course you're not, Bethie. You know every bit of what Daryl went through with his father, maybe he's scared he'll be just like him and I don't blame him a bit for that. Daryl's a good man, yes, but take a good look at Merle. He was a good man, too, but under the right circumstances, he became his father. You saw what he was like with Carol, how much he loved her, and he went out and screwed it all up. So, are you finally goin' to tell me the truth about why Daryl broke up with you and left that time?"

Beth wiped her eyes but kept her head on Maggie's shoulder and muttered, "I don't want to talk about that."

"Okay." Maggie said, rubbing her hand over Beth's arm. "You lost the baby in that accident?"

Beth nodded.

"How far along were you?"

"I was far enough," Beth mumbled. "We didn't tell anyone the first couple of months and I really didn't even tell Mama and Daddy, they just kind of knew. But I was far enough along that we had a little memorial for the baby, we even named him Jamie. Mama and Daddy and the doctor were the only ones who knew besides us and we've never told anyone else, or at least I haven't."

"Oh Bethie. I wish you would have told me this before. You shouldn't have kept this to yourself."

"You were busy, Maggie. You were always busy."

* * *

Daryl sat down on the edge of their bed and let out a deep, ragged breath.

He didn't need Maggie or the doc to tell him what was wrong with his marriage. He knew what it was.

It was him.

He had lied when he told Beth he would give her whatever she wanted, he had made himself believe that lie for a while and he had wanted it to be true, he really did, but he couldn't do it.

Whatever she wanted. That was much easier said than done.

He twisted the gold band around his finger then slipped it off like he did every night and stood up, going to the little book shelf Beth had put in the corner of their room, he pulled out a photo album and tossed it onto the bed.

* * *

"You signed the papers?" Lori asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I did. Judy's my daughter, she always will be no matter what but if this makes her legally mine, then I'm for it."

Lori smiled and placed a hand over Rick's on top of the papers.

"Thank you, Rick," she whispered.

"I didn't do this for you, Lori. I did it for me and for Judy."

She pulled her hand away from his and nodded. "Fair enough. I completely understand."

"No you don't," Rick shook his head. "I did this for me and Judy, not for you, but that doesn't mean I don't want to try to work things out. I'm not givin' up on us."

"Do you really think we can do that?" Lori asked. "Do you really think we can save our marriage?"

"Yeah, I do. I know it's not goin' to be easy and we may not be able to work out our problems but I'm willin' to give it all I've got if you are. We won't be just savin' our marriage, Lori, we'll be savin' our family."

Lori wiped her eyes and smiled again. "Why did you change your mind about us?"

He shrugged and looked down. "Daryl and Beth. What they're goin' through, they've given up and I see that and I don't think they should, I don't think we should either. They love each other probably more than you and I have ever loved each other so to see them where they are now, I can't let that be us, Lori. We may have our problems but we have two kids who need us and despite all of the shit that's happened, I do still love you."

* * *

"Beth finally get to sleep?" Glenn asked when Maggie crawled into bed.

"Yeah." Maggie said and shifted around until she was comfortable. "I didn't realize things were this bad between them. If I had of known, I would have been there for her more and I would have tried a lot harder and sooner to get them to work it out and maybe they would be at home, together and they would be happy."

"You have no way of knowin' that. I'm sure we don't know everything and we can't jump into their problems based on what little bit we do know, Maggie. I get that you want to help them, I want to help them too, but this is their battle. We can give advice and be there for them but it's theirs to fix. She should be at their house with him, talkin' about their marriage instead of goin' their separate ways."

Maggie turned her head to look at Glenn and frowned. "I hope like hell you're not tellin' me I should kick my sister out and not try to help her."

"No! No, Maggie. That's not what I'm sayin' at all. I just think they should spend time together instead of runnin' from each other. It's pretty clear that seein' a marriage counselor isn't workin' for them. If we could just get them alone together, maybe they can talk and figure out how to work it out."

"And just how do you think we'll be able to get them alone together?" Maggie asked curiously.

Glenn shook his head. "I have no idea."

* * *

Daryl groaned and turned off the alarm on his phone before it went off.

He sat up in bed, grabbed the bottle of whiskey off of the nightstand and drank what was left then he tossed the empty whiskey bottle onto the floor next to the bed. He had absolutely no intentions of leaving the house so what would it hurt if he started his drinking early?

Not a damn thing, that's what.

He had managed to roll out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom to splash cold water on his face when there was a knock at the door.

He cussed under his breath and hoped that whoever the hell it was would leave but the knocking continued.

He walked as fast as he could without falling and swung the front door open.

"What tha fuck do ya want?" He growled out before his eyes fully focused on who was standing before him.

"Good morning to you, too. Are you going to invite me in?"

He didn't protest, just stepped aside.

"Did Beth call ya, Carol?" He asked.

"No, she didn't call me. Rick and Maggie both did but they only did it because they love you both and they're concerned about you."

Daryl rubbed both of his hands over his face and resisted the urge to walk out of the room.

"Daryl, you can forget about runnin' from me. I'm not Beth, I will hunt you down and drag your ass back here if I have to. You can't keep runnin' from her and you problems."

"I ain't runnin'," he growled.

"Really? Have you forgotten that I was married to your brother? He may have liked the thrill of the fight but he hated confrontation. He always ran and I've watched you do that for so many years now, I can't stand by and watch you continue to hurt not only Beth, but yourself."

He shook his head and started towards the kitchen. "You don't know shit 'bout me an' Beth."

"That may be true but I know enough to know that you're headin' down the same path as Merle but I also know you don't want to lose Beth." She took a seat at the kitchen table and watched him pull a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet. "How much have you had to drink this mornin'?"

"Ain't had enough," he mumbled and took a sip straight from the bottle.

Carol stood and walked over to him, took the bottle from his hand and began pouring it down the sink. "You've had enough. Now, have a seat and listen to every word I'm about to say."

She was ready to wait as long as it took for him to comply but he surprised her by immediately sitting down and facing her as she went to the cabinet, took down the rest of the bottles of alcohol and started pouring them in the sink.

"I know where a lot of your problems are comin' from," she began. "Merle was the same way before we had Sophia and after we had her. A huge difference between my marriage to Merle and your marriage to Beth is that she loves so much, she's willin' to give up on havin' a baby if it means she can spend the rest of her life with you. I'm sure she'll always have that in the back of her mind but she gets it, she gets you. You see, Daryl, I thought a baby would change Merle, make him see that he was a better man than your dad. At first, he proved me right and then for some reason I'll never be able to understand, he through it all away. He walked out on us and showed me that all of the things he always told me he was were true but you're not like him, Daryl. I know how much you love Beth, I know you've made promises you had all intentions of keepin' but when the time came, you ran. Sure, you've always came back to her, that's somethin' your brother never did, but you're still afraid of your past and how that might affect your future and let me tell you right now, as long as you live with that fear, it will affect your future in a very bad way. I suggest you talk to Beth, tell her you don't want kids if that's really how you feel, and let her decide if she's still willin' to make that sacrifice to be with you because I bet she is but she's not the only one who needs to make sacrifices. You just need to believe that you're a good man, a better man than your brother and dad."

He was starin' down at the table now, tears prickling the corners of his eyes but he couldn't let Carol see that. He couldn't let her see that she was wrong, Beth was wrong, he wasn't a good man. He every bit as much a Dixon as his dad and Merle were.

Carol finished with emptying the bottles and left Daryl sitting there to think over what she had said.

She remembered very well how badly Merle spoke of Beth and she never quite understood why he did that and she never quite understood why Daryl didn't bother to defend his wife and tell his brother to shut up but they were Dixon's and she knew they each had their own ways of dealing with things.

* * *

"Where are you headed off to this early?" Maggie asked while trying to hide her smile with her coffee cup.

Beth looked at her sister, shrugged and tried to fight back her tears as she walked out of the house.

Today was a new day and if things went the way she hoped they would, it would be a new start but of course she wasn't getting her hopes up too high. There was always a chance that this new start would come back to bite her in the ass.

As soon as the front shut, Glenn stepped into the living room and leaned over the back of the couch to kiss Maggie's cheek.

"So genius," Maggie said. "Do you think this plan you dreamt up will work?"

"I don't know if it will. Did you talk to your Mama and Daddy?"

"Sure did and they're goin' to go along with it." Maggie smiled to herself and let out a small laugh.

"What?" Glenn asked.

She laughed again. "My main concern with this little plan of yours is that you won't be able to keep your mouth shut about it."

"Hey, I'm not that bad at keepin' secrets."

Maggie rolled her eyes. "Alright, if you say so."

* * *

It had been two hours since Carol had stopped by and Daryl was packing up a bag to get the hell out of Dodge before she sent the whole damn cavalry after him.

Yeah, he blamed himself for everything that was going wrong in their marriage but part of him started to think that it wasn't fair he take all of the blame for it. She was part of it. She should own up to her share of their problems.

That was another reason he wanted to get away for a while. He didn't want to sit here thinking about her and all of the shit they were going through. He knew if he did, he would lose his mind and his temper and that always ended with him doing something he would regret.

After his bag was packed, he threw it into the back seat of his truck then went to the garage to grab his tent, a cooler, and his crossbow.

He was loading the rest of that stuff into the bed of the truck when a car came flying down the driveway.

"Fuck," he mumbled when none other than Hershel Greene himself stepped out of the car with Mama and Glenn following.

His stomach dropped at the feeling that something had to have happened to Beth for all of them to be here.

"What tha hell's wrong?" He shouted in panic. "Where's Beth?"

"Calm down, son," Hershel spoke. "She's fine. We got a call from Maggie a little while ago. They were on their way to Macon to go shoppin' and they had an accident somewhere close to Yatesville. Maggie said they were both fine but Beth was really shook up. We were on our way to pick them up and thought you might want to come with us."

He shut the door to his truck and nodded. "Yeah. 'Course I want ta go with y'all."

When he got in the backseat of the car with Glenn, he got the feeling that something wasn't right but he didn't know what. It felt like they weren't telling him everything which made him worry.

He had spent most of the morning being pissed at her and himself and now, something had happened and he felt like a dumbass for the way he had been acting.

* * *

Beth sighed and turned the radio down. "Maggie, when you said you wanted to have brunch, this is not what I thought it would be. I had plans, things I needed to get done today."

"Bethie, whats more important, helpin' your sister pick out something for her husband for their anniversary or goin' to see a lawyer?"

Beth's head snapped up and her eyes were big.

"That's right, Elizabeth. I've told you before, I'm your big sister and I know everythin'. I knew last night when we were talkin' that you had already made your mind up. You didn't want to tell Daryl, I get it, but you do need to eventually. This will be a big change for both of you if you go through with it. So what will it be? Shoppin' with your favorite sister or seein' a divorce lawyer?"

"Mag…Maggie, it's not what you think. I wasn't goin' to file for a divorce. I just wanted some advice."

Maggie nodded but didn't bother to look over at Beth so they settled into what would be a very long, silent, and uncomfortable car ride.

"Hey Maggie, you missed the turn," Beth said a few minutes later.

"No I didn't," Maggie shrugged. "I'm takin' a short cut."

Beth leaned back in the seat and put her hand over her mouth in an attempt to hide the fact that she wanted to burst out crying.

Maggie kept driving on and though Beth knew they weren't headed to Macon like Maggie had said they were, she kept quiet about. For all she knew Maggie had plans other than just shopping and this was a little stop on their way.

When they pulled up to their destination, Maggie put the car in park and turned to her sister and asked "So? What do you think?"

Beth stared out the windshield with her mouth slightly open then she looked at her sister. "When you said you wanted to go shoppin' for an anniversary gift, I wasn't thinkin' you were goin' to go this big on his gift."

Maggie smiled and unbuckled her seat belt. "C'mon, let's go inside and take a look around."

Both girls hurried out of the car and inside.

"Did you really buy Glenn a house?" Beth asked.

Maggie snorted. "Hell no. I'm only rentin' this for a week."

"Seems kind of expensive," Beth mumbled.

"It really wasn't. All of these little cabins up here may not look it but they are actually pretty cheap, especially if you get one of the packages they offer."

* * *

Daryl leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands for most of the ride. He was afraid all of the alcohol he had consumed earlier that morning was about to make an appearance right on the floorboards in front of him.

"That's Maggie's car," Mama gasped a while later.

Daryl quickly jerked his head up, regretting that move as soon as he did, and tried to open the door before they came to a stop.

When he was able to get the door open, he got out and leaned against the car.

"Maggie's car looks fine, thought y'all said they was in an accident," he managed to get out.

Mama put her and on his arm and gave it a gentle rub. "Sweetie, that's what Maggie said. She didn't go in to specifics about what happened. Let's go see if we can find them around here somewhere." She leaned in closer to her son in law and whispered, "Maybe takin' a little walk and gettin' some fresh air will help with all that whiskey you've been drinkin'."

He let Mama lead him around the yard and into the little cabin. His eyes immediately fell on Beth sitting on the couch next to Maggie.

"Tha hell is this?" he asked. "Y'all look like ain't nothin' happened."

Beth furrowed her brow and Maggie patted her knee and stood up.

"Nothin' happened," Maggie shrugged and tossed him a key. "This place all yours for a week. There's a little store down the road for necessities but y'all won't have a car so you'll have to walk. After y'all spend a week here alone with each other and try to work out whatever problems y'all have, then y'all can make the decision to stay married or get divorced. Consider this a vacation from your normal life." She then turned to Beth and pointed her finger at her. "I want y'all to really talk and I fully expect you to tell Daryl what you planned on doin' today."

Beth and Daryl stood there dumbfounded as Maggie and Mama walked out of the cabin and they heard both cars crank up.

They stared at each other for a few moments before Daryl found the courage to speak.

"What was you plannin' on doin' today?"

She took a tentative step towards him. "I….I was goin' to meet with a lawyer today to see what our option are."

He scoffed. "Are you fuckin' kiddin' me? You was gon' see a lawyer ta see what our options are? You want a divorce, right? Maybe we should stop them 'fore they get too far gone an' we can go see this lawyer a yers together. Fuck! Why didn't ya tell me this last night?"

She clenched her hands at her sides and fought back the urge to slap him.

"I wasn't goin' to file for a divorce, Daryl!" She shouted. "I would if that's what you wanted but that's not what I was goin' to do, not yet anyway."

"Oh yeah, that makes me feel so much fuckin' better, Beth!"

"Daryl, listen to me, I don't want to divorce you. I just wanted to know what our options would be right now!"

"Our option 'bout what? We either get divorced or we don't! There ain't no third, hidden option fer us!"

She couldn't fight it any longer, she drew back and slapped him though it wasn't nearly as hard as she wanted to.

"You said you didn't want kids, Daryl. I was goin' to try to make you happy!"

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm adding this little note here after receiving some "Guest" reviews on ff.net. I very much appreciate ALL reviews no matter who they are from but I wish there was some way I could contact the "Guest" reviewers so we could discuss what exactly it is y'all are confused about. BUT, since I can't do that, I'm hoping this will clear some things up so here we go...
> 
> Beth and Daryl have been together for years before they actually got married and several of the incidents that are mentioned in this could have happened during that time. Without giving anything away, I can confirm that Daryl did in fact leave Beth sometime BEFORE they were married.
> 
> There's more that I could try to explain in this note but I would really rather not because everything will eventually be revealed in the story if you choose to continue reading.
> 
> And as for Beth being pregnant and seeing a lawyer, we don't know what's going on there yet but you are all free to take a guess. Maybe the "options" Beth was talking about was divorce, a legal separation, or something else. We don't know yet.
> 
> I hope I have cleared up some things and if not, then please feel free to contact me without being anonymous so we can discuss it.
> 
> Thank y'all so much!


	7. Chapter 7

**Wife Swap**

**Chapter 7**

Daryl took a step back from her and shook his head. "How tha hell would seein' a lawyer make me happy? You pregnant or some shit?"

Beth clenched her hands again and looked down.

"I don't fuckin' believe this!" Daryl shouted. "How tha hell could ya be pregnant? Whose kid is it?"

She looked back up at him with tears in her eyes. "I'm not pregnant, Daryl."

"Then what tha hell's goin' on? Why would ya go see a lawyer if ya ain't pregnant?"

She took a deep breath and sat down on the couch. "You've said you didn't want to be a dad, you didn't want there to be more Dixon's in the world so I thought I could…I thought I had a way to make us both happy. I went to see a lawyer to see if it would be possible for me to adopt as a single parent without us divorcing. We'd both get what we wanted. You wouldn't have to worry about the kid takin' after you since it wouldn't be your blood and I would get to be a mom. I've been thinkin' about that for a while and it's the only thing I've come up with but you don't want me to do that, I won't."

He snorted. "You're shit at lyin', Beth. I don't believe ya 'cause don't none of that make sense."

"Well," Beth shrugged. "Believe what you want. I'd never bring a child into this world knowin' it wasn't wanted but I thought maybe we….I could give a child a place to call home even if I had to go through an adoption agency."

"No," Daryl said, shaking his head again. "Hell no."

"Excuse me?" Beth said, standing up.

"You heard me. I said no. You ain't bringin' someone elses' kid home."

"You are not goin' to tell me what I can and cannot do, Daryl. If I want to adopt, that's my choice, same as havin' a baby. I'm sick of tiptoein' around you and your problems. It's not fair for me to make you happy and get nothin' in return."

"Make me happy?" He shouted. "You ain't made me happy in a long time. You best be callin' that lawyer for somethin' other than a kid."

It was over. She couldn't stand there and have him act like this. And since she didn't have a car or her phone to call for a ride, there was nothing left for her to do except to start walking.

He had stood there like a fool and watched her walk out knowing she was lying but about what he didn't know.

She wasn't gone five minutes when he decided he couldn't let her walk away. He wasn't going to admit he was wrong for anything he said but he wasn't going to give up this easily.

He ran out of the house and down the road until he saw her walking. He didn't holler out for her to stop, he just ran up beside her and grabbed her arm.

"Get the hell away from me!" She yelled and pushed him away until he let go of her arm. "I hate you, Daryl! Can't you see that?"

"I can see it," he muttered.

"Then why are you still here?"

"'Cause I love ya, Beth."

She scoffed. "Right. Because you love me. I'm beginnin' to think you never did. Maybe you are just like your dad and Merle. You only love me when I make you happy, when I put everythin' I want on the back burner, but you don't love me now because apparently I haven't made you happy in a long time."

"That's not true."

"Yes it is, Daryl. You never loved me, did you? You love havin' control, don't you? And when that control slips away, you hate it. Just like I hate you!"

"You're wrong if ya think that. If it was 'bout me havin' control, I sure as hell wouldn't have married you."

She wiped her eyes and laughed. "Yeah. I guess you're right. You're not the one in control, Merle is. Is that why he hates me so much? Because he thinks I should bend at his command like you do? Is that it, Daryl?"

He took a step back and she took a step forward, not letting him get too far away from her.

"Why won't you answer me?" she asked.

"That ain't why he hates you."

"Oh! So you do know why he hates me and yet you have continued to let him treat me like shit. You take the cake, Daryl. Best husband ever!" She shouted, throwing her arms up in the air.

"Why are ya bein' like this?"

"Like what?" she asked. "A wife who is sick and tired of puttin' up with her husband's shit or a woman who is finally realizin' she can do so much better than the piece of shit she married?"

Daryl's eyes widened and she could see that she had hurt him but she was past the point of caring. Yes, it broke her hurt and made her gut wrench when she said those words but she wasn't taking them back, not that she could anyway, but she wouldn't.

"You know, Daryl, there was a time when I never would have said that to you but that time is long gone. I'm not tryin' to hurt you but there's only so much of this I can take and I've reached my limit." She held up her hand when he started to speak. "Let me finish, please. I know you think this is all about havin' kids, but it's not. Not entirely anyway. I want kids, yes. I want you to be the father, yes. But I would not force that on you. We've had two chances at it and obviously it's not meant to be but I feel….I feel that no matter what, we'll never be the same. We're different now than we were when we first met. We're both older and we know what we want more than we did then." She sighed and fought back tears. "We're just goin' in circles, Daryl, and I don't know about you but it's makin' me dizzy. I want us back but there's no us anymore. I tried explain' that to Maggie but she didn't want to hear it, nobody wants to hear it but it's there. We all know it's true."

He was chewing on his lip now and staring at her with tears in his eyes but he nodded his head.

"Yeah. You're right. But we ain't got no way ta get in touch with someone ta come get us so we might as well go back ta that house."

She nodded. "As long as you agree that we're over. No more chances when we get home."

"I agree."

* * *

_**Four days later…** _

"Let me get this straight," Rick said. "You kidnapped your sister and your brother in law?"

Maggie shrugged. "Kidnapped is a bit too harsh, don't ya think?"

"No," he shook his head. "It's not because that's exactly what you did."

"It's not like I actually kidnapped them, Rick, and you know that so there's no need to worry."

"Maggie, when I get a call from both of their jobs sayin' they haven't shown up to work in a few days, then yes, I do need to worry."

Maggie groaned. "Can't you tell them you found them and they're fine?"

"Tell me where they are so I can see for myself they're fine and then I'll let their bosses know."

"Oh my God, Rick! Do you really think I would hurt either of them?"

He tilted his head. "Beth, no. Daryl, yes."

She snorted. "I would never hurt either of them."

He shrugged. "Well, I'll believe it when I see it. So where are they?"

Maggie gave him directions to the house she had rented and gave him Beth's and Daryl's cell phones so they could call their bosses.

When Rick pulled up to the house it was after dark and there was only one light on as far as he could see.

He knocked on the door a few times and when no one answered, he opened the door with the key Maggie had given him.

There had definitely been someone in the house but he didn't know for sure that it had been Beth and Daryl so he continued to look around.

Now, he didn't think Maggie would actually hurt them in any way but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Opening the door to one of the bedrooms, he called out their names and waited for a response. When he didn't get one, he proceeded into the room and after clearing it, he went over to the bathroom door and pressed his ear to it but again, nothing.

He turned the knob on the door and slung it open.

* * *

Beth had been expecting to be alone, she and Daryl hadn't said a word to each other since that day on the road but she knew he had left and she knew he wouldn't be back for a while.

She drew a bath, lit a few candles, and closed her eyes, trying her best to relax.

She felt the air shift and a breeze when the door flew open before she ever heard or saw anyone.

"Shit, Beth. I'm sorry." Rick said as she screamed and he turned around.

When he shut the bathroom door, she climbed out of the tube and put on a robe.

"What the hell are you doin' here and why didn't you knock?" She asked once she had stepped into the bedroom.

He didn't turn around to look at her but he answered her questions.

"I'm here 'cause we got calls from your bosses sayin' y'all hadn't been to work and you weren't answerin' your phones. And I didn' knock 'cause I didn't think you were in there. I've looked through the whole house and called out your names but you didn't answer."

"Oh. I must have dozed off," she said.

"So, where's Daryl?"

Beth shrugged to herself. "In the woods somewhere would be my guess."

"In the woods?"

"Yeah. He left this mornin' but I don't know when he'll be back."

"Okay, well, you get dressed and come out to the livin' room. I want to talk to you."

After she had dressed, she sat down on the bed and took a deep breath, dreading the conversation she knew was about to happen.

It was hard for her, as she was sure it was hard for Daryl, to know that almost everyone knew you were having problems and that you were failing in your marriage. It was hard and she wished she didn't have to talk or think about it anymore.

* * *

Daryl had seen Rick's car pull up to the house but he couldn't bring himself to go inside and face his friend or Beth.

He had been doing good at avoiding her but he knew that if he saw her, he would break down. He would probably beg her to stay with him, to not give up on them, but it was too late for that. He had screwed up so many things, so many times, and he had hurt her. He had never meant to do that but it was who he was and she knew that.

It didn't help things any when he could hear her crying long after he thought she would be asleep.

He watched the house, thinking maybe he should go in and face his her. Show her this didn't bother him.

Yeah, that's just what he would do.

He walked up the back stairs and into the kitchen, listening to see if she sounded upset while talking to Rick.

"No, Rick!" He heard Beth say. "You can't even begin to understand what's goin' on between us. Just because you've had problems with Lori and y'all are tryin' to work them out doesn't mean Daryl and I can do the same. We are way beyond that point."

"Beth, I didn't mean it like that. I just think that maybe you're givin' up to easily."

He heard Beth scoff at that and he knew she probably rolled her eyes.

He stepped into the living room and Rick looked up at him but his own eyes fell on Beth and he could see the way she tensed at him even being in the room with her.

What the hell had happened to them?

"Y'all are sure there's no workin' out your problems?" Rick asked him.

"Yeah. We're sure 'bout it."

"Alright," Rick gave him a nod and stood up. "Do y'all want me to take y'all home tonight or do you want to stay here like Maggie suggested?"

"Can you carry me to Maggie's?" Beth asked.

"Yeah, I'll carry y'all wherever you want."

"Beth," Daryl spoke her name for the first time in days. "Ya ain't got ta go ta yer sister's, ya have a home to go to. I'll jus' go ta Merle's, ain't like he's home anyway."

And she stared at him, eyes colder than he had expected.

"That's not my home, Daryl. It never was my home. I'll stay at Maggie's and in a few days I'll get Shawn to help me get my things and carry them out to the farm."

Rick dropped Beth off at Maggie's and Daryl off at Merle's.

He understood why his friend didn't want to go home. Home was a lonely place without the woman you loved there. And though Daryl didn't say it, Rick knew he was hurt that Beth had refused to go home, that she said it was never her home.

* * *

The next morning, Beth curled up in bed and wrapped the blankets around her as tight as she could.

She didn't feel like getting up and facing Maggie or the world today. She could just lay there and cry and wallow in her misery.

No matter how much she wanted to blame Daryl, it wasn't all his fault. She had pushed him away this time, pushed him so far that he really was gone, and she was the one who decided it was over, they were over.

"Bethie, can I come in?" Maggie asked, from the other side of the door.

"Yeah," Beth mumbled though she was sure her sister had heard her.

Maggie eased the door open and softly closed it then laid down on the bed next to her sister.

"I'm sorry, Bethie."

"There's nothin' for you to be sorry about, Maggie. This was all my fault."

"Well, I could agree with you on that but to be honest, it's not all your fault. Daryl needs some of the blame too."

Beth sniffled and wiped her eyes and Maggie pulled her sister to her.

"What happened between y'all?"

"You know what happened, Maggie. Please don't make me say it again."

"I won't," Maggie said. "When are you goin' to get your things?"

Beth shrugged. "Daryl told Rick he would let me know when a good time would be for me to go by there. I guess he's wantin' me to get my things out while he's at work or somethin' but Rick said he and Shawn would go with me to help load everythin'."

"Glenn and I will help out, too. Okay?"

* * *

Daryl didn't sleep a wink at Merle's. Sometime this morning he got up and found himself driving home. He wanted to grab a few things and get out of there before he called Rick to bring Beth over.

This shit was hard enough without having to see her.

He sat outside in the driveway until he couldn't fight it anymore.

The house seemed so cold and empty though all of their stuff was there. This place just wouldn't be the same without her and if they were really going through with the divorce, assuming he got the house, he planned to sell it and get the hell out of town before the ink dried.

He went to their room first, grabbed a duffle bag out of the closet and threw some clothes in it then carried the bag and sat it by the front door and went back to their room.

He turned the light on her nightstand on, opened the top drawer and pulled out the small jewelry box she kept in there and put his wedding ring inside it then laid back on the bed, on her side, and closed his eyes.

_He reached out to touch Beth's hand and she jerked away from him._

" _Don't touch me," she whispered._

" _Beth, I'm sorry fer what I did."_

"Sorry ain't enough, Daryl. You hit me and then you went after Rick and Shawn."

" _Shit, Beth. I've said I'm sorry an' I done everythin' I's supposed ta do, jus' like you an' tha court wanted me to. What more do ya want?"_

_She shook her head. "You don't get it, do you? You did those things because you had to, not because you wanted to. When you come to me and tell me you're sorry for what you did, and you actually mean it, then I'll forgive you. But until then," she shook her head again and her voice broke. "until then, I can't be with you knowin' that you are everythin' you promised me you would never be."_

He woke up with tears in his eyes and his heart pounding.

There was no denying she had every right to push him away for everything he had put her through and she would be better off without him.

And for the first time, he found himself actually thanking God they had lost their babies. Yeah, he knew it had hurt Beth, and it had hurt him, but why bring a child into the world knowing the cycle couldn't be broken?

* * *

Rick pulled up at Maggie's in his truck and honked the horn for Beth.

When she came out, Maggie and Glenn followed her and got into their car.

They pulled up to Beth and Daryl's place, followed by Shawn a little while later, and the five of them set out to get everything they could so hopefully they wouldn't have to make another trip.

Daryl had sounded upset when he called Rick to tell him he wouldn't be home for a few days and Beth could go by anytime she wanted to get her things.

Damn, they were worse off than he thought.

Beth showed the guys what furniture she would be taking with her, she was only taking the few things she had before they got together, and then she and Maggie went to the bedroom and packed up all of her clothes and anything else she thought she would want.

She went over to get her Daddy's Bible out of her nightstand. When she opened it she could tell her jewelry box had been moved and she knew Daryl must have placed it in there like that on purpose. She opened it, took one look at his ring then took hers off and placed it beside his.

"Which box is that goin' in?" Maggie asked, holding her hand out for the jewelry box.

"It's not goin'," Beth said quickly, then placed the box down on top of the nightstand.

"Okay," Maggie shrugged as she picked up a box to carry out for the guys to load.

When they had finished loading everything Beth wanted to take, they gave a few minutes alone inside where she took the house key off of her keychain and placed it on nightstand next to the jewelry box.

She couldn't believe this was actually happening. They were really over and she was really walking away for good.

* * *

A month had passed since they went their separate ways but neither of them had bothered to contact a lawyer. They both knew that if they took that next step, there was no turning back and secretly, they wished they could turn back, take back everything that had been said, everything that had happened, and just be them. Together.

Beth hunched over the toilet and threw up again while Maggie held her hair away from her face.

"I told you to stop after the fourth drink," Maggie said, sounding harsher than she wanted but Beth didn't have it in her to roll her eyes or give her sister any kind of a fight.

She was right after all. Maggie had told her to stop, that she had had enough but she kept drinking.

Maggie let go of Beth's hair when she had finished and handed her a wet wash rag.

"You can't keep doin' this, Beth. You can't keep drinkin' 'til you pass out and forget where you are or what's goin' on in your life. That's not how things work."

Beth leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. "Oh for God's sake, Maggie. Can you quit tellin' me what to do or what I shouldn't be doin'?"

"Nope," Maggie stated. "I'm your big sister. It's my job to tell you what to do and what not to do."

* * *

Daryl was under his truck in his brother's driveway when a car pulled up. He silently cursed whoever it was but he slid out from underneath it to find out what the hell they wanted.

"Rick ain't here," he said when he saw Lori get out of the car.

"I know. He's at home with the kids," Lori said.

"Then what tha fuck ya doin' here?"

"I came to talk to you."

"Cain't ya see I'm busy?"

"Oh, I see it just fine but I also see your eyes are bloodshot and you're a hell of a lot skinnier than you were before. Are you drinkin'? Drugs? Or are you just not eatin'?"

He shrugged and wiped his hands on his jeans.

"What tha fuck does it matter?"

"It matters because Beth needs you…."

He scoffed. "Tha fuck she does. She's on 'er own."

"She does need you, Daryl. She's been drinkin' a lot lately..."

"Why tha hell are ya tellin' me this? She's over 21, she can drink if she wants."

Lori stepped closer to him and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm tellin' you this because she's makin' herself sick. She drinks all day and night, she drinks until she starts throwin' up or passes out. You need to talk to her."

"Ain't none of that my problem. If you're so worried 'bout 'er, why don't ya get with 'er sister an' y'all figure out a way ta help 'er?"

Beth had never been a big drinker so, yeah, he was worried and he tried not to let it show, but he was sure she could see right through him.

"It is your problem, Daryl. She's killin' your baby."


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Some Triggers may apply!

_**Warning: Some Triggers may apply!** _

* * *

 

**Wife Swap**

**Chapter 8**

"She ain't pregnant," Daryl said more to himself than Lori.

"She is," Lori replied.

"Naw, she ain't. She cain't be an' if she is, it ain't mine."

Lori rolled her eyes. "She is pregnant, Daryl, and the baby is yours. If you don't believe me, then you should call Maggie and see when a good time would be for you to go by there. Maybe hearin' it from Beth would have been better but she's kept it from you this long, we didn't think she would ever tell you. You need to talk to her and see what would be best for not just yourself or her but for your baby as well."

Daryl had turned away from Lori and was trying not to let her know he was worried about Beth and the baby, even if he didn't want to believe it could be his.

He figured Lori was right, maybe he did need to hear it from Beth. Maybe that would help them both move on and he could quit trying to find things to take his mind off of her.

Lori stood there, waiting for Daryl to say he would go see Beth and talk to her or at the very least tell her to fuck off and mind her own business.

Instead, he looked up at her and shook his head then he left her standing there as he disappeared into the house.

* * *

Merle was leaned up against the wall, just inside the living room doorway when Daryl stepped inside.

"What tha fuck did she want with ya?" He asked.

Daryl shrugged.

"Don't ya play dumb with me, baby brotha. What'd she want? Ya fuckin' 'er since you an' Blondie ain't together no more?"

"Fuck off, Merle."

He stormed into the bathroom, slammed the door shut and sat down on the floor in front of it.

There was no fucking way Beth could be pregnant and if she was, well, he kept telling himself that there was no way in hell it was his but he had to admit, it got under his skin to know that she had kept this from him.

Yeah, he couldn't blame her for keeping it from him when he had made it pretty damn clear he didn't want kids, now or ever, but still, how could she keep that from him? Even if the kid wasn't his, why not just tell him that and put him out of his misery?

* * *

"Hey," Maggie whispered when Beth's eyes fluttered open. "How are you feelin'?"

"Like shit," Beth mumbled.

"Yeah, alcohol will do that to you," Maggie said with a small smile. "C'mon and get up. Lori is here and she seemed really anxious to talk to you."

"I don't want to talk to her."

Maggie rolled her eyes. "Quit actin' like a baby and get up before I pour ice water on you."

"Fine. I'm gettin' up."

When Beth had finally got out of the bed, Maggie left her alone to get changed but not before letting her know that if she wasn't out of there in ten minutes, she would send Lori in.

She splashed her face with water a few times before finally making her way out of the bedroom to face whatever hell awaited her.

Lori was sitting on the couch waiting for her and she could hear Maggie fumbling around in the kitchen.

"What do you want?" She asked Lori when she sat down.

"Well, there's no easy way to say this so I'm just goin' to spit it out, I went to talk to Daryl this mornin'."

Beth shrugged. "Okay? Why would you need to tell me that?"

"Because I told him that he needed to talk to you, that the two of you needed to figure things out for yourselves and the baby."

"What?" Beth shrieked and jumped up. "Why would you do that? That's none of your business, Lori!"

"What the hell is goin' on?" Maggie asked.

Lori stood up and turned to Maggie. "I told Beth that I went to see Daryl this mornin' and I told him that they needed to talk because she's pregnant."

Maggie's eyes widened as she looked at her sister. "You're pregnant? Bethie, why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's none of your business just like it's none of Lori's business or….or even Daryl's. It's mine."

Lori shook her head. "It is my business, Beth. You came to me for advice…."

"Yeah," Beth scoffed. "Obviously I made a mistake by doin' that!"

Maggie sat down on the arm of the couch and shook her head. "I let you drink. How could you let me do that? Why didn't you tell me about the baby?"

"It's not any of your concern, Maggie. This is just one big fuckin' mess. You should have kept your mouth shut, Lori! It wasn't your place to tell him."

"I had to, Beth. At the rate you were goin', you would have killed that baby or yourself."

"So what?! It wouldn't have mattered!" She shouted.

Maggie continued to sit there, staring at her sister in disbelief and praying to God that everything would be fine and if it wasn't, she had to take her share of the blame. She should have seen the signs, after all that's what big sisters are for.

She jumped up when Beth started for the front door though her reaction was a little delayed from the shock she was still in.

"Bethie, please don't go. Stay here and talk to me," She pleaded with her sister.

"There's nothin' to talk about."

* * *

She had drove away from her sister's house with no real destination in mind, she just needed to get away from there and away from what her life had become.

Life seemed to be one big shit storm after another and there was nothing she could do to right all of the mistakes she had made over the years but that never stopped her from trying.

Daryl didn't want a baby and she wasn't going to force him into something he didn't want. Not telling him was her way of letting go, letting him move on and not have to be something he would hate.

Her phone rang, playing Daryl's ringtone for the first time in a long time, but she couldn't bring herself to answer it.

* * *

Daryl sighed and tightly gripped his phone in his hands.

"She didn't answer?" Maggie asked, setting a glass of tea down on the coffee table in front of him.

"Naw. Don't blame 'er though."

"Don't do that, Daryl. Don't give her an excuse to tuck tail and run."

"Why tha hell not? I've done it."

"I know you have but that doesn't make it right. She should have told you about the baby, maybe gave you a choice as to whether or not you wanted to be in its life." She stared at him for a moment before asking, "If she had given you a choice, if she gives you a choice, do you want to be in the baby's life, Daryl?"

He shook his head. "Naw."

Maggie let out a deep breath and stood up. "Okay then, maybe you should go."

And that's what he did.

He left there and went straight to his brother's house. It was the last place he wanted to be but it was the only place he could go.

When he walked in, he went to Merle's liquor cabinet and instead of pulling down one of the many bottles of alcohol, he pulled out a couple of baggies.

"That's my good shit," Merle's gruff voice called out.

"I know," Daryl mumbled.

"What tha hell ya want that for?"

He shrugged and Merle chuckled as he took the baggies from him. "I ain't lettin' ya have that shit 'til ya tell me what ya want it for."

"What tha hell does it matter what I want it for? Ain't like ya ever needed a reason ta take it."

Merle shrugged. "Maybe not. Maybe I don't want ta share it."

He sat down in the recliner and stared up at Daryl. "Go on. Sit yer ass down, boy."

Daryl sat down and started chewing his bottom lip.

"What's tha matter with ya?" Merle asked. "It got somethin' ta do with Blondie?" Merle chuckled again when Daryl dropped his eyes to the floor. "Yeah, I knew it did. Ya gon' tell me what's goin' on with y'all or do I got ta beat it out a ya?"

Daryl knew it was useless to keep it to himself and what would it matter anyway? Maybe Merle knew what was going on because it sure as hell seemed like he was the last to know.

"Beth's pregnant," he muttered, expecting Merle to say something stupid or give him hell over it.

"I'll be damned. Congratulations, baby brotha," Merle said, standing up and holding his hand out for his brother.

"What tha hell's wrong with ya?" Daryl asked.

Merle snorted. "Ain't nothin' wrong with me. Jus' happy for ya is all."

Daryl stood up and shook his head. "Ya ain't happy fer me. Why would ya be? Ya ain't never liked Beth."

Merle clenched his teeth and sat back down. "Ya think I don't know I've been a dick ta her an' ta you? I know it, you know it, she knows it, hell, the whole damn town knows it but that don't mean I ain't happy for ya." He stopped and smiled at his brother. "I know what you're thinkin' an' no, I ain't had nothin' ta drink an' I ain't put nothin' up my nose today. I ain't done that shit in over a month."

"Then why ya still got it?"

He shrugged. "Hell if I know. But I ain't touched it an' I sure as hell ain't lettin' you touch it jus' 'cause you're havin' trouble with ever'thin'. 'Sides, Carol would kill me if I did."

And there it was. Just when he thought Merle actually gave a damn about him, he didn't. He was acting this way for someone else.

"Ya don't want a kid?" Merle asked and he shook his head no.

"Why tha hell not?"

Daryl sat down and rung his hands and said, "I'ma be jus' like him. I already am with Beth an' I don't want ta see what I'd do ta a kid."

Merle sat up straight in his chair and stared at him. "What tha fuck do ya mean you're already like him with Blondie?"

"I done stupid shit. I've hit 'er a couple times," Daryl chanced a look in his brothers direction and when he did, his whole body went stiff.

Merle had jumped up out of his chair and started towards his brother. "Out a all tha stupid fuckin' shit ya could a done ya went an' hit 'er? What tha fuck's tha matter with ya boy? Thought I's clear when I told ya not ta ever be like that."

He opened his mouth to speak but before he could utter a word, Merle had grabbed him by the front of his shirt and was pulling him up.

"I ain't gon' lie or act like I ain't done stupid shit an' fucked up things 'tween me an' Carol but I ain't never laid a hand on 'er," Merle growled as he shoved Daryl backwards. "I ain't never laid a hand on my kid either."

* * *

"Is this really necessary?"

Rick shook his head and looked up at her from across his desk.

"Yeah, Beth, it is. I ain't takin' the cuffs off 'til I know you've calmed down."

"I didn't even do anythin'," she huffed.

"You were speedin', ran two stop signs and you blew twice the legal limit on the breathalyzer. How the hell is that not doin' anythin'?" Rick paused and shook his head again "Besides, I've already called Maggie and she's on her way to get you. I'm not goin' to book you but you have to promise me this won't happen again."

"I promise it won't," she said, trying to push down her anger at him for calling Maggie.

She sat there, handcuffed to the chair until Maggie showed up.

No words were exchanged between the sisters until they were in Maggie's car.

Maggie took a deep breath and turned to her sister. "Here's the deal, Beth. When you sober up, I'll carry you to the doctor and you...you can have them do whatever the hell you want. Daryl doesn't want the baby and it's obvious you don't either. After we're done there, we're goin' to see a good lawyer, not one of the asshole's from around here, and you're goin' to file for a divorce. It's past the point of tryin' to work things out so why fight it any longer than you need to. You okay with that?"

Beth nodded and Maggie started the car.

* * *

Rick sat his keys down on his nightstand then sat on the bed with his head in his hands.

"Hey," Lori said, sitting up in bed and putting her hand on his shoulder. "Heard you arrested Beth today."

He nodded. "Unofficially."

"You need to talk to Daryl. Maybe you can get him to see that Beth is the best thing to ever happen to him."

Rick raised his head and looked over his shoulder at his wife. "It's not goin' to be that easy."

"Well, something has to be done or Maggie's carrying Beth to see a lawyer."

He took Lori's hand in his and said, "As much as we know they love each other, I can't see them being in the same room anymore. Maybe we should focus less on them and more on us."

Lori smiled and leaned in to press a kiss to Rick's cheek.

* * *

"Here, put this on your faces," Carol said, tossing a bag of frozen peas and fries on to the table in front of Merle and Daryl before she sat down. "Either one of you want to tell me what the hell I walked in on?"

Both men kept their heads down as they each grabbed a bag of the frozen food and did as they were told.

Carol shook her head. "This shit has to stop. I don't know what's goin' on with you, Daryl but you need to get yourself together. And you," she pointed at Merle. "You swore to me that you were done with the drugs, drinkin', women and fightin' and I walk in here to see you slammin' your brothers head into floor and drugs all over the table. I told you if you did any of those things you would never see or hear from me and Sophia again."

Merle groaned and mumbled something she couldn't make out.

"It ain't his fault," Daryl muttered and glanced up at her.

"Oh really? And how exactly is it not his fault?"

Merle slammed the bag of fries down on the table and rubbed his hands together.

"Darylina here told me what a piece a shit pussy he's been. Beatin' on 'is woman like he was our ol' man."

Carol felt her mouth fall open as she looked at Daryl.

There was nothing but anger in her eyes and in her face when Daryl raised his head.

He was sure that since Merle hadn't kill him, Carol would.

He laid the bag if peas down on the table and stood up.

"Think I'm gon' go," he said.

"Yeah. That would probably be the best thing for you right now," Carol said.

* * *

_**Two Weeks Later...** _

Beth took a deep breath and laid back on the table.

Maggie squeezed her hand and closed her eyes. She couldn't believe Beth was lying there about to go through with this but it wasn't her place to stop her.

The doctor came in and sat down on a stool next to her.

"Mrs. Dixon, I understand you're around eight weeks so before we do the procedure I'm going to do an ultrasound to confirm it. Are you okay with that?"

She nodded her head and winced when the cold gel hit her stomach.

She had her head turned away from the ultrasound machine but she didn't have any reason to look at it when she heard Maggie gasp and choke back a sob.

* * *

Daryl walked out of Dr. Linson's office and stared up at the sky as he pulled a cigarette out and lit it.

He had told her that today would be the day he sat down with Beth and talked to her about the baby, their marriage and where things were heading but before he tried to do that, he had to stop by and get the reassurance that he was doing the right thing.

He took one last drag from the cigarette then threw it down and stomped it out before getting in his truck and heading to Maggie's.

Beth's car was in the driveway when he pulled up so he took that as a good sign this was supposed to happen.

He knocked and when Glenn answered the door, he immediately knew something wasn't right by the look on his face but he didn't say anything.

"She here?"

"No," Glenn shook his head.

"I take it she ain't at tha farm 'cause 'er car is 'ere. Ya know when she'll be back?"

Glenn shook his head again. "Maggie said they'd be gone for a while."

"Ya mind if I wait for 'er then?"

Glenn's eyes grew wide. "That's...that's not a good idea."

"Alright," he said and gave Glenn a nod as he backed away from the door half hoping Beth would come running out to stop him.

He got in his truck but couldn't brand himself to turn the key and pull away so he sat right there until Maggie's car pulled up three hours later.

He got out of the truck but stopped when Maggie walked around to the passenger side and helped Beth out of the car and into the house.

Though it wasn't that far from his truck to the front door, he fought back the urge to turn around and run every step of the way and even after he had already knocked.

Maggie opened the door and stepped out, shutting it behind her.

"Now's not a good time," she quickly said.

"I jus' want ta talk ta her. We need ta talk 'bout tha kid an' ever'thin' else."

Maggie crossed her arms and took a step closer to him.

"There's no more talkin', Daryl. You don't ever have to worry about the baby and as for you and Beth, well, you should get a lawyer."

"It's my kid. I gotta talk ta her 'bout it sometime."

"No you don't. She took care of it so there's...there's no reason for you to talk to her."

Maggie felt her heart break and her stomach turn when she saw the look on Daryl's face and the tears in his eyes.

"She...she...?" He backed away. "No. Fuck! She didn't..."

She watched him get in his truck and spin his tires as he left but she knew he was hurt but she had to believe this had been the right thing to do, not for Beth but for herself.

* * *

Daryl looked down at the bottle of Jameson in his hand and shook his head but poured himself another glass anyway, turned up the radio in his truck and sat down on the stool next to it.

He hadn't stepped a foot inside their house since he'd talked to Maggie nearly a week ago.

All he had done was stay in the garage and hope like hell Beth was happy now because he sure as hell wasn't.

He had hurt her so many times and taken everything she had wanted away from her with only a few words and yet, he was the one sitting there falling apart.

_"That was Eric Church with Smoke Little Smoke" the man on the radio said. "Up next we have Luke Bryan and John Anderson."_

He finished his glass before the opening chords of the song but as he sat his glass down and picked the bottle back up, he stood and walked the two steps to his truck and sat down in the seat.

_When our baby Kate was born it was the biggest day of my life_

_Lyin' there, little bows in her hair_

_In the lovin' arms of my wife_

_I was the proudest papa in the USA_

_Makin' a livin' on the road somewhere a thousand miles away_

_It was a happy day, but kinda' sad_

_And I wish I coulda' been there_

_Yea I wish I coulda' been there_

_I wish I coulda been there for that_

_Little Bobby hit his first home run_

_He was the hero of the hometown crowd_

_Two to one, it was a winnin' run_

_Everybody was cheering loud_

_And mama she was smilin' sayin' he's a chip off of the old block_

_But I was on the road somewhere between Memphis and Little Rock_

He took one last drink from that bottle before throwing it down and pulling out his knife.

* * *

Beth rubbed her eyes and sat up in bed. It was still dark out but she swore she had heard someone screaming.

Maggie swung her door up and rushed in.

"Bethie, Rick is here," Maggie managed to get out.

She jumped out of bed and pushed past her sister.

When she walked into the living room followed by Maggie, Rick and Glenn stood up.

"Oh God," Beth let out a cry. "Where's Daryl? What happened?"

Glenn shook his head and Rick took a step towards her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: we've all established that I write really angsty fics and I'm cruel with cliffhangers, right? Anyway, this is just a bump in the road. I swear! We'll pick up right here with the next chapter so don't go on a witch hunt just yet.
> 
> Also, I don't own the song used in this chapter.
> 
> As always, love or hate it, please leave a review!
> 
> -A


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: May contain triggers and please note that I do not work in the medical field so some things may not be accurate.

_ **WARNING: May contain triggers and please note that I do not work in the medical field so some things may not be accurate.** _

****

**Wife Swap**   
**Chapter 9**

"It's not Daryl, Beth. It's Shawn. He was shot..."

"He's okay though, right?" Glenn asked as Maggie grabbed Beth and both girls burst into tears.

"I'm not sure if he is or not. When I left the hospital, they were takin' him back for surgery," Rick looked over at the sisters and softly spoke. "Shawn's tough. I know he'll make it but I also know it would mean the world to him to have his sisters there. Y'all want me to give y'all a ride to the hospital?"

"No," Maggie shook her head and let go of Beth. "I'll drive us."

"Alright," Rick gave her a nod. "I'll turn my lights on and y'all just follow me with your flashers on."

Rick and Glenn both stepped outside while Maggie and Beth went back to their rooms to change clothes.

Maggie threw on her clothes and all but ran to Beth's room. "You don't have to come with us, Bethie. I know Shawn would understand if you didn't feel up to it."

Beth pulled her shirt over her head and turned to face her sister. "I'm fine, Maggie. I would rather be there with our brother than sitting here wonderin' what's goin' on and if he's alright."

"I'm just wor…"

"Maggie, I know you're worried but I promise I'm fine and there's nothin' to worry about."

* * *

Twenty-five minutes later and they were pacing the hallways of the hospital waiting to find out how their brother was.

"Why don't y'all go down to the cafeteria and get some coffee?" Rick asked them. "I'll come get y'all if somethin' comes up but y'all heard the doctor, he could be in there for a few more hours."

"Coffee sounds good," Beth said quietly.

Maggie put her arms around Beth's shoulders and pulled her close. "We'll go get some coffee but we're comin' right back."

When they reached the cafeteria, Beth sat down at one of the tables while Maggie went to get their drinks.

"Here," Maggie said as she sat Beth's drink down in front of her. Her sister immediately grabbed the cup and took a sip.

"I thought we were gettin' coffee," Beth whined.

"I got you hot chocolate instead," Maggie said as she took a sip from her own up.

"And what did you get?"

"Oh I got coffee but you're not gettin' any because I really do not feel like chasin' your ass all over this hospital and havin' to tell you to shut up every five minutes."

Beth rolled her eyes and took another sip then said, "We should get back up there."

"Rick's right, Bethie. Shawn is tough and I'm sure he'll pull through," Maggie assured her sister though she wasn't sure she believed it herself.

Rick stuck his phone in his back pocket just as Beth and Maggie walked up.

"Have they said how he's doin'?" Maggie asked.

"No but I'm sure it won't be long."

Maggie and Rick watched Beth as she sat down in one of the chairs and pulled her knees up to her chest. Neither of them wanted to say it in front of her but they were both worried because she had been awfully quiet.

Rick looked at Maggie and gave a slight nod to the side for her to follow him.

They stepped away just down the hall but still in view of Beth and the doctors should they come out with news.

"How's she holdin' up?" Rick asked.

Maggie looked back at her sister then to Rick. "She's holdin' up fine but she's not herself. She took a leave from work and she's been doin' nothin' but tryin' to hide how she feels. How's Daryl been?"

Rick snorted. "He wouldn't answer any calls or texts so I went out to their house and he wasn't there. His huntin' gear was gone though. I even went by Merle's thinkin' he may have heard from him but he said he hadn't."

"And you believe him?"

"Yeah, I do. He actually seemed to be worried about Daryl and said if either one of us heard from him we should let the other know."

They were both silent for a moment until Rick's phone rang. He took one look at it and shook his head.

"Shit. It's the station," he said as he stepped away. Maggie nodded in understanding and went over to take a seat next to Beth.

It wasn't even five minutes later when Rick came back over to them.

"I have to go but if y'all need anythin' or hear from the doctors, y'all call me. If not, I'll come back by when I get finished with this call. Alright?"

Both girls nodded their heads and then he was gone.

* * *

Rick turned his lights and siren on before he pulled out of the hospital parking lot and headed outside of town.

When he pulled up to the house, all of the emergency crews were there and the fire department was doing their best to get the flames under control.

"What the hell happened?" He shouted over the noise to one of the deputies.

"We don't know. Someone was headed out to the lake and they spotted the smoke so they called it in."

Rick looked back at the house then back to the deputy. "Do they know if anyone was home or not?"

"As far as I know they haven't found anyone."

"Rick!" the fire chief called out as he ran over. "One of my men just radioed and said they found someone inside and he's still alive. They should be bringin' whoever it is out soon."

They all stood there waiting for what felt like hours but was really only a few minutes before the firemen came out of the house.

The paramedics, who were on standby, rushed over with a gurney and Rick ran over as fast as he could but they wouldn't let him near as they loaded the gurney into the ambulance.

He followed that ambulance straight to the hospital and told the staff to let him know when he would be able to talk to the guy.

While he waited, he went on up to the floor Shawn was on and sat there with Maggie.

"Where's Beth?" he asked when he sat down.

"She was gettin' on my nerves so I asked her to go to the cafeteria and get us some snacks," Maggie replied with a small smile.

* * *

Beth didn't say it out loud but she was actually relieved when Maggie sent her to the cafeteria. Of course she wanted to know how her brother was and be there for him but at the same time she hated being there because she didn't know how he was and it was driving her crazy.

If they had come out at some point and said he was doing fine but they still had a lot to do or something along those line, she wouldn't have been as nervous and scared as she was. She couldn't stand the thought of losing one more person in her life, especially him.

He was her big brother after all.

She had a small sack with a couple bags of chips, some sweet cakes and was carrying two cups of soda on her way back upstairs when she heard a familiar voice.

She looked around and when she didn't see anyone, she pushed the door slightly open to peek in.

His eyes snapped up to her when he heard the door creak and he fought back every urge to go to her.

He could see she was scared as she looked him over.

"What're ya doin' 'ere?" he growled.

"I'm…I…Maggie and I are here for Shawn," she stuttered. "Wh…what are you here for?"

"Don't matter," he shrugged and looked down at his arm. "What's up with Shawn?"

She looked at his arm and swallowed past the lump in her throat as she answered him. "He was shot and they have him in surgery."

"He'll be fine," he mumbled.

"I…I should get back before Maggie sends out a search party," she said but she didn't give him a chance to say anything before she had turned around and hurried out of the room.

Back upstairs, she handed a drink and the sack to Maggie and sat down next to Rick.

"You look like you've seen a ghost," Maggie said as she crunched on a chip. "What took you so long?"

She took a sip of her own drink and shook her head. "Daryl's downstairs."

Rick almost jumped up but instead he asked, "Why is he here? Was somethin' wrong?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "He wouldn't say but his arm is wrapped up in bandages." Beth scrunched up her nose then and turned her head to Rick. "You smell like smoke. Was there a fire or something'?"

He nodded. "Yeah. A house out on the lake road caught on fire."

Maggie scoffed. "Did it catch on fire or did it blow up? 'Cause bein' out there, it was probably a meth lab."

"We don't know yet and we won't know for sure until the hazmat team goes in first. Speakin' of that, I need to go check in. I'll come back up here when I get done."

He left the girls sittin' there and as soon as the elevator stopped and he stepped out, he was calling Merle.

"Daryl's at the hospital," was all he said when Merle answered.

He checked with the nurse's station to see which room Daryl was in while he waited for Merle to get there.

Once Merle had arrived, he let him know what Beth had said about Daryl's arm and then both men went to his room.

"What tha fuck did ya do?" Merle asked as soon as they shut the door.

"Tha hell are ya talkin' 'bout?"

"Don't play dumb with me, boy," Merle growled and pointed at his arm. "I ain't stupid an' I sure as hell ain't blind. What'd ya do?"

"Didn't do nothin'." He looked up to Rick. "Beth told ya I was 'ere, didn't she?"

"She did," Rick nodded. "She didn't say it but I could see she was worried about you."

Daryl scoffed. "She ain't worried 'bout shit."

Merle shook his head and took a step closer to Daryl. "Tell me what ya did, baby brother, or I'll go ask tha doc."

"I didn't do nothin'. Was messin' with my truck an' somethin' sparked an' caught on fire."

Merle looked to Rick then they both looked at Daryl.

He was lyin', they knew that but they weren't about to say it. That didn't mean they weren't going to find out what had happened though, but for now they wouldn't push him to say.

* * *

The sun had already been up for a couple of hours by the time the doctor came out to Beth and Maggie.

Both girls stood up, holding on to each other, as they waited for the doctor to begin telling them what to expect.

"Your brother is fine," the doctor immediately said. "It was touch and go there for a while, he lost a lot of blood but he's stable. However, that doesn't mean he's out of the woods yet. With the type of gunshot wound he sustained we usually keep a close eye on the patient for forty-eight hours to make sure nothing comes up. If all goes well, as I'm sure it will, your brother is looking at physical therapy to regain mobility of not just his arm but possibly his whole left side and of course he won't be able to work for several months."

They both let out a sigh of relief and neither one of them really heard anything else the doctor had to say after that. How could they? They had just received the best news possible for his situation and while they were still upset and scared, they were happy.

"How long until he'll be able to go home?" Maggie asked.

"We're looking at possibly three weeks. We'll make sure we have a nurse who can go to his house and change the bandages and give him medication but is there anyone who can be with him?"

"I can," Beth offered.

"Are you sure?" Maggie asked. "I don't mind doin' it."

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Okay," Maggie said then asked the doctor, "When can we see him?"

"Not for at least a couple of hours. You can stay but I'm afraid you'll have to stay in the waiting room until after he wakes up. When he does, we're going to make sure everything went well and then we'll allow family in."

"We'll go home and get cleaned up and then we'll come back but if he wakes up before then, can you call us?" Maggie asked.

"We will."

When they walked into Maggie's, Maggie put her arm around Beth and hugged her as tightly as she could.

"Why don't we both try to get a nap and then we'll go back to the hospital," Maggie suggested.

"Sounds good."

* * *

Merle groaned and tried to change the way he was sitting in the chair in Daryl's room but it didn't matter how he sat, the chair was uncomfortable as hell.

"Ya ain't gotta stay 'ere," Daryl mumbled.

"Sure I do. Who else is gon' be 'ere fer yer sorry ass?"

There was a tap on the door then it opened and a nurse stepped in. "Mr. Dixon, the doctor has asked that we give you some painkillers before we deaden your arm. So turn around, pull your pants down and bend over the bed."

Daryl heard Merle chuckle as he stood and did as the nurse instructed.

He was used to pain and wasn't scared of needles but when that nurse stuck that needle in, he swore it felt like she had shoved the whole damn thing in and was twisting it around.

"Alright," she said as she removed the needle. "It'll take about twenty minutes for that work and then we'll start on your arm."

When she left the room Daryl stayed standing.

"Ya gon' tell me 'xactly what ya did ta yer arm?" Merle asked.

"Done told ya I didn't do nothin'. 'Least I wasn't tryin' to."

"It got somethin' ta do with you an' Blondie, don't it? Ya didn't try ta off yerself like a pussy did ya?"

"Naw, ain't nothin' like that," he muttered.

* * *

_**Two Weeks Later….** _

Rick was at that burned up house, looking over some bags of evidence when he Maggie called to let him know that Shawn was going to be released the following day.

As happy as he was for to hear that, he couldn't take his mind off of the case. He wanted to tell Maggie what all he had found out about it but he wasn't entirely sure, and he wouldn't be until the lab results came back, so he kept his mouth shut.

He put his phone back in his pocket and picked up on of the bags, studying its contents.

"That's the same kind of gun that Greene was shot with," Leon, one of the deputy sheriff's, said while they both stared at it.

"Yeah, but we don't know yet if it is the same gun," Rick said and sat the bag back down.

* * *

The next day, Rick and Lori were at the hospital with Maggie, Glenn and Beth when Shawn was released.

When they all go to the farm, Rick and Glenn did their best to get Shawn in the house and comfortable despite being in a wheelchair while Beth fixed them all some food and Maggie and Lori made sure everything in the guest room downstairs was set up.

They all ate and as the day went on they all went their separate ways except for Beth who would be staying in the room next to Shawn.

Rick had dropped Lori off at their house and changed into his uniform before leaving. He felt bad that there wasn't anything he could say or do to take back what had happened to Shawn so he threw himself into finding out who and why he was shot in the first place.

* * *

Maggie, as soon as Glenn went to bed, got on the computer to find a cheap but good carpenter to build a ramp for Shawn at the farm so he wouldn't have to depend on Rick and Glenn for getting around.

She wrote down a few names and numbers then tossed her pen down.

It was useless. There's wasn't a single person close by who could build a ramp, most of the carpenters listed specialized in homes, business, or other shit she didn't care about.

The only one she found who could do the job was in Atlanta and that just wouldn't work.

The next morning, before Glenn left for work, Maggie told him what she was wanting to do and he agreed that it was their only option.

She pulled up to Daryl's a little before 8:00 a.m. and honked the car horn.

Daryl had heard the car pull up so he was already getting up when the horn blew.

He opened the side door on the garage and stepped out into the bright morning sun.

"What tha hell do ya want?" he asked as Maggie walked up.

"I wanted to talk to you about a job. I need you to go out to the farm and give me an estimate on what it would cost to put in ramps for Shawn's wheelchair."

He wanted to tell her he didn't think that was a good idea but that part of him that had been eating away at his heart had other plans.

"I'll be out there 'round noon ta check it out," the words slipped out before he knew it.

Maggie smiled. "Thank you, Daryl. This means a lot and I'm willin' to pay you whatever you want as long as the job is done and it's done right."

* * *

Of course Maggie didn't say a word to Beth about Daryl so when he showed up at the farm, well, Beth threw out a few choice words but kept herself in the kitchen, away from her husband and the feeling of wanting to work things out.

"You and my sister ever talk?" Shawn asked while Daryl measured his wheelchair and the doorways.

"Naw. Ain't nothin' ta talk 'bout."

"C'mon man, I ain't stupid. Maggie and Beth both thought I didn't know anythin' about what was goin' on but I know. And I know somethin' happened to you while I was in the hospital."

Daryl glanced up at his brother in law and took a deep breath. "I'ma tell ya what I've told ever'one else, I didn't do anythin' an' what happened was an accident. Didn't mean fer it ta happen an' didn't mean fer Beth ta find out I was there."

Over the next few days, Beth kept to herself while Daryl was there mapping out where each ramp would go and how big they would need to be but that didn't keep Shawn from calling out her name every time he had the chance.

Daryl on the other hand knew it probably wasn't a good idea to be around Beth but he silently thanked God every time Shawn called for her. He guessed that seeing she wasn't hurting over their split would help him move on but it felt like it was making it harder to do that.

What could he say? He was miserable and he loved it.

* * *

It was one o'clock in the morning when Beth heard a thud and rushed into her brother's room.

He was laying' on the floor and obviously in pain.

"Oh my God, Shawn!" Beth squealed as she rushed to him. "What were you thinkin'?"

Shawn groaned and tried to move away from her when she reached out for him.

"I'm sorry," she said as she jerked her hand away. "I….I'm goin' to call Maggie and see if she and Glenn can come out."

She was in panic mode as she reached for Shawn's phone on the bedside table.

He brought his right arm up and grabbed her ankle. "Don't call them. I'm fine. Just help me up."

She nodded and got on his left side and tried to help him up.

"Stop!" He yelled and she jumped away.

"I'm sorry, Shawn. Did I hurt you? What do I do?"

He laid his head back on the floor and closed his eyes. "Hand me my phone."

She quickly grabbed it and handed it to him.

He knew his phone by heart, just as anyone does, but he couldn't focus in on the screen. He let his head fall back again and handed the phone to Beth.

"Call Daryl. He's closer than Maggie and Glenn. I need to get to the hospital."

* * *

"Where is he?" Daryl asked as he rushed into the house.

"The guest room," Beth said, following him.

"Aw shit, man," Daryl said when he saw Shawn. "Ya know ya ain't better yet. What tha hell was ya tryin' ta do?"

Shawn shook his head as Daryl lifted him up.

"If he's got a bag, grab it an' let's go," he ordered Beth.

At the hospital, they immediately took Shawn into one of the rooms and began their examination while Beth paced the hallway and Daryl sat in a chair, nervously chewing on his thumb.

"Should I call Maggie?" Beth asked. "I should call her, shouldn't I?"

"Mhmm," Daryl mumbled.

Beth sighed. "Look who I'm askin'! Why am I even askin' you?"

She was just about to tell him he could leave when the doctor came out of Shawn's room.

"Beth," he called out. "I need to run some tests to be sure but I think Shawn may have a blood infection. If he does he'll need a transfusion. Do you know if you or Maggie has the same blood type as him?"

"No. I mean I don't know if we do or not."

"Okay, that's fine. We can go ahead and test you while we wait for Maggie to get here."

She nodded and pulled out her phone.

"Naw," Daryl said, taking her phone away from her. "Go with tha doc an' I'll call 'er."

She nodded again and followed the doctor.

Daryl was waiting by the emergency room doors when Maggie came in a short time later.

"Have they said anythin'?" she asked.

"They ain't said nothin'. Still got Beth back in one a them rooms ta see if she's a match fer Shawn."

"Do you know which room?"

"Yeah," he said and showed Maggie to the room.

Beth was sitting there, her leg bouncing and silent tears streaming down her face. "I'm sorry, Maggie. I should've kept a better eye on him," she cried.

"It's goin' to be okay, Bethie," Maggie tried to assure her as she sat down and the nurse pulled up her sleeve.

"If neither of them match, would either of you be willing to be tested?" the doctor asked Glenn and Daryl.

They looked at each other then back to the doctor.

"Sure," Glenn said.

"Yeah. Whatever helps 'im," Daryl said.

"Okay, Maggie. You're goin' to feel a little pinch and then if you feel lightheaded or anything while we collect the samples, you let me know."

"Yes ma'am."

Maggie felt her insert the needle and tried not to move.

Daryl and Glenn were both watching her and they both felt their stomachs turning at the sight. Maybe it wasn't just the sight of them drawing blood but the thought that it was for Shawn that had their stomachs turning.

Beth closed her eyes and shook her head, holding her hand over her mouth to keep from sobbing.

This was her fault. She should have paid better attention to him and then maybe she could have seen that something was wrong.

"It's not your fault," Maggie said to her, barely above a whisper. "You couldn't have known that somethin' was wrong."

"I should have, Maggie," she cried. "I was supposed to be helpin' him and takin' care of him and obviously I didn't do a very good job of that."

Beth continued to cry until they had finished with Maggie and Glenn and Daryl had sat down for their blood to be drawn.

While they did, Maggie and Beth stepped out of the room and Maggie wrapped her arms around her sister.

"I know you blame yourself, Bethie but you have got to get it together! You're cryin' like a baby over somethin' you had absolutely no control over. If anyone should have caught that somethin' was wrong, it was that nurse. She's trained for that, you're not. Do you remember what daddy always said?"

Beth nodded. "We've all got jobs to do."

"Exactly. We've all got jobs to do and yours is to take care of yourself and not let things you can't control get to you."

****


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Some triggers may apply so consider yourself warned.

_ **WARNING: Some triggers may apply so consider yourself warned.** _

* * *

 

**Wife Swap**   
**Chapter 10**

It was hours before Shawn's doctor came back to the waiting room and both girls stood.

He looked to Beth and Maggie and shook his head. "I'm sorry but neither of you are a match."

"What about Glenn and Daryl?" Maggie asked.

He hesitated for a moment before answering. "Glenn's not a match. I've gone ahead and sent a request in to Atlanta for them to transport some down here but it may be a day or two before it arrives. If either of you know someone who would be willing to come in and see if they're a match, send them in."

"He didn't say if Daryl was a match or not," Beth whispered to her sister when the doctor walked away.

Maggie put her arms around Beth's shoulders. "He must not have been a match, Bethie. If he was, I'm sure he would have said."

Beth nodded and hoped her sister was right.

* * *

Glenn and Daryl stepped off of the elevator to see Maggie was crying and Beth wasn't anywhere around.

"Maggie, did somethin' happen to Shawn?" Glenn asked as they approached her.

She looked up and shook her head. "No. He's still the same but the doctor said Beth and I weren't a match and neither were you."

"Where'd Beth go?" Daryl asked.

"She went down to call Rick. The doctor said he sent a request for Shawn's blood type to Atlanta but it could take a few days so in the meantime we can try to get people we know to come in and see if they're a match. I know Beth is hopin' Rick will come in and be a match but I'm not gettin' my hopes up."

He looked down and nodded. "I'll see if I can get Carol or someone ta come in fer y'all."

"Thank you, Daryl," Maggie said as she leaned against Glenn.

He shrugged and turned around towards the elevator.

"Should we be worried?" Glenn asked once the elevator doors had closed.

"Shawn will be fine."

"That's not what I meant. Should we be worried about them?" He said and motioned towards the elevator.

Maggie sighed. "I don't know yet. I'm always worried about them but I'm beginning to think that whatever happens now would be good for them. Maybe they'll open their eyes and see they're not just hurtin' themselves anymore, they're hurtin' everyone and each other."

* * *

Beth leaned back on the bench and closed her eyes. She was holding her phone but she hadn't found the strength to call anyone.

Daryl stepped out of the hospital and immediately spotted Beth. He knew she didn't want to talk to him or see him and the only reason she had called was because of Shawn. If Shawn hadn't have needed someone right then, she never would have called him.

But that didn't stop him from going over and sitting down next to her.

After a minute of sitting there, he pulled out his cigarettes and lit one.

Beth scoffed. "Seriously, Daryl?! We're at a hospital. Put that out."

He leaned forward, stubbed the cigarette out on the sidewalk and looked back at her.

"I'm sorry wasn't none of us a match fer Shawn," he said, trying to make things easier for them both.

"No you're not. You've never been sorry about anythin' so don't try to act like you're sorry now."

"Beth," he reached out for her but she jerked her arm away and stared at him with tears in her eyes.

"I haven't told Maggie yet but I talked to the doctor who took our samples. He said you were a match but it was too risky to use your blood for a transfusion and he told me why but I want to hear you say it, Daryl. I need to hear you say it."

"What do ya want me ta say?"

"It's not what I want you to say. I just want the truth, Daryl. The doctor has already told me, so why won't you?"

He shrugged.

"No. See. You always do that," she said as she stood up. "If you're not runnin' from me, then you try to make it out like you have no idea what I'm talkin' about or like it's somehow my fault. I know what you did, Daryl. I know how you hurt your arm. I just don't know why you did it or why you would lie to me about it."

He laughed and rubbed his hands over his face. "Maybe I don't think it's any a yer business what I do. Jus' like ya didn't think it was any a mine ta tell me ya went ta….ta," he jerked his hand towards her stomach. "Ya didn't give me a choice in that. Ya jus' went an' let some doctor kill our kid an' I had ta find out from yer sister."

"I gave you a choice!" She shouted. "You're the one who didn't want me or a kid! You didn't want us! Don't act like it hurt you that I didn't include you! The moment you said you didn't want us is the moment you no longer had a say in what I did."

He glanced around to see that several people had stopped and were now staring at them.

"What?" She asked when she noticed he was looking around. "Afraid I'm goin' to embarrass you?"

"Naw. Jus' don't think we should be doin' this shit while yer brother is layin' in a room up there."

"Don't act like you care about him!"

* * *

"We should go check on them," Glenn suggested while Maggie paced.

"They're fine."

"I don't think they are," Glenn said as he stood and looked towards the elevator.

Beth and Daryl both stepped out of it followed by a security guard.

Maggie stopped pacing and stared at them with her hands on her hips.

"What did y'all do this time?" She asked.

"These two were outside yellin' at each other and this one here," the guard pointed to Beth, "took a swing. Usually I would have to call the cops and they would both be arrested but I know your family and I know what y'all are goin' through with Shawn. Just keep an eye on them because if it happens again, I won't have a choice. The cops will be called."

When the security guard walked away, Maggie grabbed Beth's arm and pulled her down the hall to the restroom and locked the door once they were inside.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Beth? You're actin' like a child, both of you are."

"Daryl's a match."

"What?"

"Daryl's a match," Beth repeated. "I talked to the doctor and he said that none of us matched except for Daryl but he couldn't use Daryl."

"Well why not?"

"Because he's on antibiotics for his arm and because there's still traces of drugs in his system."

"Daryl? On drugs? Beth, have you lost your mind?"

"No, Maggie, I haven't."

Maggie shook her head and stared at her sister. "Have you seen Daryl usin' any kind of drugs since he's been around? Since Shawn got hurt?"

"I don't have to see him doin' it to know the doctor told me there were traces in his system."

"That's just it, Bethie. There were traces. It doesn't mean he's been usin', it just means he had."

"Wow. You're makin' excuses for him now?"

"No. He shouldn't have done it and I'm sure he knows that but that doesn't mean he has continued to do it," Maggie sighed. "All of this has to stop one way or another, Beth. All of the lies y'all have told each other need to be let go. There needs to be some sort of relief in this mess and it looks like you'll have to be the one to make the first move. Since y'all are so miserable together, you need to be the one to file for a divorce."

"Maggie…."

"No, Beth. It's time you step up and do what needs to be done. I know you wish there was a way y'all could work everythin' out and be together again but he'll never forgive you and you'll never forgive. That won't work. You understand that, right?"

"Yeah," Beth nodded. "I do."

"Good. Now let's get back out there and try to act like an adult. Daryl's done nothin' but help us with Shawn and we may need his help when he's release so the least we could do right now is act civil and not let anythin' get in the way of that. Can you do that?"

"Yeah," Beth nodded and wiped her eyes. "I hate to do it and I really hate to do it here but maybe it's time I try to talk to him about everythin', about what I did."

"Are you ready for that? I mean, it's a lot, Beth. It's goin' to be a lot for you to say and a lot for him to take in. Are you sure you want to do that now?"

"No, of course I'm not sure and I'm not ready, but when will I be?"

"You could wait a little while and talk to him away from the hospital."

"If I wait, I'll lose my nerve and maybe doin' it here will keep us from killin' each other."

* * *

"Can ya let Beth an' Maggie know I'm goin' home but if y'all need anythin', need me ta help with Shawn, y'all jus' give me a call?" Daryl asked Glenn.

Glenn shook his head. "I would but if you leave now, they'll kill me if they don't drive me crazy first. You can stick around for a little while or at least until we know if Shawn's doin' any better or if he's worse."

Daryl gave him a slight nod and looked down the hall in the direction Maggie and Beth had gone.

"I don't think she wants me ta be 'ere."

"I'm not so sure Beth knows what she wants anymore."

"She used ta know," Daryl mumbled to himself as Maggie and Beth came into sight.

Maggie motioned for Glenn and when he got up, Beth took his place next to Daryl.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I just….I just haven't been myself lately. I guess I haven't been myself for a long time really."

He stared up at her and started tapping his foot on the floor.

"What're ya gettin' at?"

"I….I think it's time we talk. We need to decide what we're goin' to do and if our marriage is worth savin' or not."

"An' ya want ta do that shit 'ere?"

She shrugged. "We can go somewhere else if you want but, one way or another, we're doin' this today."

He pursed his lips and nodded. "Aight, let's get out a 'ere. I'll take ya out ta tha farm an' we can talk there while ya get some stuff together fer Shawn."

Maggie watched nervously as Beth and Daryl talked and when they both stood up to leave, she felt the panic begin to rise.

"What's goin' on?" She asked when Beth approached her.

"We're goin' out to the farm. We'll talk there while I get Shawn a few things."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Bethie."

"Wait," Glenn interrupted. "I thought you brought a bag of stuff for him."

"I did," Beth said. "But it was clothes and necessities. I didn't grab his wallet, I didn't get his insurance card or anythin'. I told Daryl on the way here that I forgot all of that."

* * *

When they arrived at the farm, Daryl followed Beth into the house and straight to the kitchen.

"You want anythin' to drink? There's tea, lemonade, water, grape juice, and I think there might be a few cokes," Beth rambled.

"Tea will be fine," he said as he took a seat.

She poured him a glass of tea and poured herself a glass of grape juice and sat down at the table.

He stared at her for a moment and then stared at her glass. "When did ya start drinkin' grape juice?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I….that's….I don't even know where to begin but…."

"Why?"

She furrowed her brow. "What?"

"Why'd ya lie ta me? Why'd ya let me believe ya had done that?"

She tilted her head to the side.

"I told ya 'fore that I ain't stupid. I know ya, Beth. Did ya forget that? Ya drank that shit when ya was pregnant with Jamie."

"Daryl, that's not….that's…."

"What? Cain't say it, can ya? Why'd ya lie an' let me think ya had an abortion?"

"I never told you I did, you just assumed that."

He scoffed and his grip on his glass tightened. "Maggie said…."

"I know what Maggie said and she wasn't lyin'. I've taken care of everythin'. You didn't want a kid, and as much as I wanted one, I wanted you more."

"What'd ya do?"

"I'm goin' to give the baby up. I told the lawyer I didn't know who the father was so you won't have to sign any papers, you won't ever have to know anythin'."

"That was all your choice? Ya did this without me."

He shoved his chair away from the table, stood up and then threw his glass across the kitchen. Beth didn't even flinch as the glass shattered against the wall.

"I'm not the only one keepin' secrets, Daryl. I told you earlier, I know about your arm and the drugs," she stood and got as close as she dared. "That night you were in the hospital, Rick got a call about a house fire. He said they figured it was a meth lab explosion but it wasn't, was it? You started that fire."

They stood there staring at each other until finally Beth reached out and took his hand in hers.

She turned his arm over and looked over the bandage then back up.

"I get why you did it. I really do. You were lettin' go of that, weren't you? Do you know how many times I laid in our bed and thought about burnin' the house down with us inside?"

He jerked his hand away and took a step back. "Why are ya tellin' me this?"

"I wanted to do that, Daryl. I wanted to do that so we could stay who we were and not become who we are now. You let go of somethin' but I never could. I couldn't do what I wanted and when I went to the doctor, I knew that if I went through with that, I was lettin' go of everythin'. I know I was bein' selfish by not tellin' you but I couldn't do it. I had to do somethin' for myself for a change."

* * *

"Do you think she's goin' to tell him?" Glenn asked.

"Yeah, I do. I think now is the right time for her to do it. If she waits any longer she won't be able to hide it and it'll cause more trouble."

"He already knows."

"What?"

Glenn smiled and took Maggie's hand. "He was watchin' her and he's worried about her. He knows. And I am beginnin' to think you and Shawn are evil."

"Why on earth would you say somethin' like that?" Maggie asked, pretending to be shocked.

"The two of you had this whole thing planned out. Well, maybe not everything. I don't think y'all planned him gettin' sick and I really hope y'all didn't but y'all were workin' on them. Havin' Daryl go out to the farm to build ramps."

Maggie leaned over and kissed Glenn's cheek. "You better keep your mouth shut."

* * *


	11. Chapter 11

**Wife Swap**

**Chapter 11**

Daryl stood there, staring down at Beth in shock. He couldn't believe she had said what she did and he sure couldn't believe she was calm about everything.

She recognized that he was shocked by her words and maybe they had stung a little but she had spent too long tiptoeing around him and his fears and issues. She wanted a child but had been willing to give that up for him but who was she kidding, it wasn't her choice. It was his.

If he wanted her and the baby, she wouldn't be happier than she had ever been but if he didn't, if he didn't want either of them, she knew she would be fine. A little heartbroken and upset, sure. But she would be fine.

She stepped back and watched him watching her. For as quiet as he usually was, this quietness was too quiet and she could feel herself on the verge of tears. Not for just Daryl or herself but for their whole situation.

Finally, Beth took a deep breath and said, "Don't stand there and look at me like that when you've done a hell of a lot worse to me. You don't get to play the victim, Daryl. Neither of us can but certainly not you. You don't get to stand there and act like you're hurt because I didn't include you in what I have chosen to do."

"That kid is mine jus' as much mine as it is yers!" He shouted and stepped closer.

"Maybe so but just because you helped make it, doesn't make you a father and I'm not tryin' to force that on you. I was tryin' to find a way to...," she stopped and shook her head. "You know what, Daryl? I don't even know what I was tryin' to do. This is your chance to get out though. As much as I do want you and I love you, I'm not goin' to choose between you and our baby."

"We can get help, Beth."

"Get help? Do you really think bringin' someone else into this will help us? We've already tried that and it doesn't work. And even if it did, where would that leave us? You would only end up hating me or either you would want out and you would end up leavin' us. I'm not goin' to put my baby through that."

She walked past him and made her way to Shawn's room to get the things she had left but she didn't expect him to follow her.

He shut the door behind him and waited for her to turn around.

* * *

Rick sat down on the couch and leaned his head against the back of it as he tried to think about anything other than work.

"You should go to bed," Lori suggested from the doorway of the kitchen.

"I'll be fine," he mumbled.

"No you won't. You've been goin' nonstop, Rick. You need to rest. Your neck and back will just end up hurting in the mornin' if you fall asleep on that couch."

He closed his eyes but nodded and said, "I know. I'll go to bed in a few minutes. I'm goin' to watch the news first."

"Alright," Lori nodded. "But don't make me have to get up tonight to get you to come to bed."

He stayed there and listened to Lori moving around in the kitchen before heading to bed.

Once the lights were all out and the house seemed to grow quieter, he rubbed his hands over his face then sat up and took his notepad out of his pocket to look over his notes from the day.

* * *

"They've been gone a while," Glenn muttered as Maggie paced the hallway.

"I know," she said. "But maybe it's a good thing, maybe they will actually talk things out for once. Lord knows they need to before they end up killin' each other or themselves."

"What if they don't? Do you think Beth will file for a divorce?"

Maggie turned and looked at him. "No. I don't think she will file for a divorce and I don't think he will either. Even with all of their fightin', they still love each other too much to do that. If neither of them files, I at least hope they both change their minds about the baby."

* * *

When she turned around to face him, he was leaning against the door staring down at the floor.

"I jus' want another chance, Beth. That's all I'm askin' for."

"I've given you more chances than anyone else would have. What's goin' to make this time any different from the others?"

"I don't want ta lose ya."

"You've said that before," she said as she turned away to start gathering Shawn's things.

Without thinking, he pushed away from the door and grabbed her arm, spinning her back around to face him.

"Please, Beth. Jus' give me one more chance," he pleaded. "I know what I'm losin' this time an' I don't want ta lose it. I don't want ta lose you or that baby. I promise I won't let ya down."

Though she believed him and saw the tears and hurt in his eyes, she said, "I'll think about it, Daryl. But you can't push me. You have to let me decide on my own."

He quickly nodded and though he wanted to reach out and hug her, he kept his arms at his side.

* * *

_**Two Days Later….** _

Daryl sat in the waiting room, staring at the floor and thinking about Beth. He was worried about Shawn and whether or not this transfusion would work, just like they all were, but he couldn't help but think about her. She had said she would think about giving him another chance but he didn't dare ask if she had. He knew she probably hadn't given it a second thought after they got back to the hospital and he couldn't blame her for that. He wouldn't have thought anymore about it if he was in her shoes but that didn't keep him from worrying she had decided not to give him another chance.

And whether she knew it or not, this waiting and not knowing was killing him. He really wanted to try to make this work, to right all of his wrongs, but the choice was hers.

He looked up from the floor when he heard Maggie's and Beth's voices getting closer.

Beth let out a deep sigh as she sat down in the chair next to him and Maggie began pacing.

"How is he?" Daryl asked quietly.

Beth shook her head. "It's hard to say for sure but I believe he'll be fine."

She was silent for a moment before she spoke again.

"When you said you wanted to try to work things out, did you really mean it?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Well, I've been thinkin' and I'm not sure how to work it out. If we try, there has to be some really big changes and not just with you, we both have to change everythin' we've been doin'. That's the only way this will ever work."

"What'd ya want me ta do?"

"It's not about what I want, Daryl, but I do want you to get some kind of help."

He nodded but didn't say anything so she leaned in closer to him.

"I'm willin' to try, Daryl, but before we decide on anythin', we need to sit down and have a talk about what this means. I mean really talk. We need to lay everythin' out in the open and figure out where we went wrong. We have to do things differently this time."

He nodded again and quietly said, "I know."

* * *

"Mr. Dixon, what a pleasant surprise," Dr. Linson said when she saw Daryl in the waiting room. "What can I help you with today?"

He looked around nervously. "Can….can we talk in yer office?"

"Yes, of course."

He followed her back to her office all the while trying to sort through everything he wanted to talk about.

"Have a seat and tell me why you're here," she said as she closed the door.

"I…uh…I talked ta Beth an' asked 'er if we could try ta work things out."

"And what did she say?"

"She said she'd think 'bout it an' she told me today she was willin' ta try if we both made some changes."

"That's wonderful news, Daryl, but I'm sensing you have your doubts about it. Do you want to tell me about those? What are you worried about?"

"What if we change too much an' she still don't want ta be with me? What if I don't change enough?"

"Have you discussed any specific changes?"

"Not yet but she said she wanted me ta get help."

"So you haven't told her that you are getting help. Do you think that's fair to her or yourself?"

"Naw, jus' ain't had a chance ta tell 'er."

"Well, I can tell you now that if you don't tell her, you may never get the chance to tell her. And since you haven't told her about that, I'm assuming you also haven't told her about wanting to continue with my program."

He shook his head.

She leaned forward in her seat and stared at him for moment and then said, "How about we make a deal."

"What kind a deal?"

"Well, I know you have trouble telling Beth what's on your mind or what's going on so I'll tell her myself but only if you can get her to come in with you and she can see for herself that you are trying. Does that sound fair?"

"Uh…yeah. I guess."

"What have I told you about guessing, Daryl? You can't guess at life and you certainly cannot guess when it comes to your marriage. You know I'm not going to force this subject, it's up to you whether or not you want to step up and ask her to come in to save your marriage, I'm just giving you an option. You just think about that a minute while I see what appointments I have available."

* * *

"I see you're takin' Mama's advice," Maggie said as she sat down beside Beth.

She shrugged. "I don't even know why I'm doin' it but Mama always knows best."

"She does and I agree with her. Making a list of everythin' you love about Daryl and list of everythin' you don't like about him will show you that your love outweighs everythin' else."

Beth snorted. "And what if it doesn't? What if it shows me we just can't work it out?"

Maggie rolled her eyes. "You have to quit bein' so negative and see the good in things. Think about it, Bethie. Daryl found out that you are in fact pregnant and now y'all are goin' to try to work out your problems and it's all for the better. That baby deserves to know his parents love him and they love each other."

"Maggie, I'm not keepin' the baby."

"What the hell are you talkin' about?"

"Even if Daryl and I can save our marriage, we're not goin' to keep the baby. I'm still givin' him or her up."

"Have you told Daryl about this?"

"No, I haven't yet but I know he'll understand. This isn't the right time for us."

"Oh sweetie," Maggie said as she tucked a strand of hair behind Beth's ear. "There will never be a right time if you think that way. And who says it's for you to decide when the right time to have a baby is? If it's meant to be, it will happen and obviously this little one was meant to be."

"I wish I believed that but I don't. Not anymore."

* * *

Rick sat back in his chair and shook his head while he stared at the forensics report from the explosion.

He wasn't sure what he would do with this information but no matter what, it wasn't going to end well.

He tossed the report onto his desk and rubbed his hands over his face.

Something had to be done, he knew that, so he pulled out his cell phone.

After two rings, they answered.

"I need you to meet me at my house in an hour," he said and quickly ended the call.

* * *


End file.
